D'accord, chapitre neuf. Heh heh, theres a little french for ya. Yeah... well, here's chapter nine.

Sorry last chapter was so short. I had places to go, holiday celebrations...

Happy new year! 2004, woo hoo!

Chapter nine

-On the Seastorm-

Will had been aroused by the calls of the Pearl's crew, who had been trying, for some time, to stir him. "What time is it?"

"Night," Ana Maria answered, a sigh escaping her lips. "We've no more knowledge than that, lad."

"Mmm." Will rested his head against the hard metal bars, pain pummeling through his skull as he did so. "What have I missed?"

"Not much. What did they do to ye in there, boy?" It was Ana Maria again who spoke, and she cast Cotton a glare as his parrot squawked, "Avast, ye landlubbers!"

"I don't wish to talk of it." Will shuddered, and ran his fingers through his entangled hair.

"S'all right, then," Jack told him with an understanding nod, looking surprisingly serious and sober.



-On Gibb's Boat-

"Miss Swann, yer awake!" Mr. Gibbs allowed himself to break into a toothy grin, pleased that his companion had finally woken up. "Welcome aboard the Cotton, named fer me old pal Mr. Cotton and 'is parrot. Lord knows if we'll ever see 'em again. But God put us 'ere, and bless 'im, he gave us a good mug of rum to keep us warm. Would ye like some, missie?"

"No, thank you," Elizabeth managed to sputter while trying to stretch her mind around all this. "How did you find me?"

"You was just a-floatin' around like a cloud on a windy day, an' ye happened to float right by. So I took ye aboard. Yer little friend Will's been lookin' fer ya." Gibbs leaned in, waggling his grizzled eyebrows suggestively at Will's name. "Heh heh, but he's not doin' so grand a job of recusin' you, is he? Why, I did! I'm the hero."

His actions were insinuating the fact that he was drunk. Elizabeth realized the smell of rum was clear, and wondered why she had not taken notice before. Feeling quite apprehensive now, Elizabeth eyed her rescuer carefully. He was peering at her, but he then took a great swig of rum, closed his eyes, cursed, and toppled over.

The drunken man awoke again in an hour. We now must revoke him of the title "drunken" and call him "hungover", for that was what he was. It was Elizabeth who came to his rescue, gently filling one of his rum bottles with the small suppy of water he had, and she made him drink it. Once his head was feeling a little clearer, he smiled at the girl ."Thanks missie. As y'can see, I'm quite taken with me rum." Grinning shamelessly at her, Elizabeth couldn't help but return the gesture.

"If you don't mind my asking, Mr. Gibbs... why is it that, all those years ago, you were working for the commodore, and now, now you work for a pirate?" It had been bothering Elizabeth, she'd had to admit... though Gibbs always was a bit of a scoundrel.

"Ah, well, 'tis a long tale..."

"And what else, exactly, is there for me to do?" Elizabeth arched an eyebrow curiously, and the man shrugged and gave in.

"I never liked that Norrington fella. 'Course, he was a mere cap'n at the time, but all the same, he was power mad. He always wanted more, I knew it, and I didn't trust him. So I began to shirk me duties, because I couldn't stand to do what 'e said fer me to do. I had the idea that somehow, his orders would end up being fer personal benefit."

"One day, we was to stop in Tortuga, see. Norrington, though 'e 'ated the place, we had to stop. So stop we did. And who else would be there but ol' Jack Sparrow 'imself. Well, Jack 'ad himself a reputation. Norrington knew it was him, and though Jack was doing nothing but guzzling rum, 'e was arrested. I couldn't let 'im hang. I just couldn't. So I snuck down to the brig, and me an' him, we rowed away, afore anyone knew we was missin'." Gibbs grinned, pride filling his eyes. "So I'se been Jack's mate e'er since, lass. Thats why I left the damn captain. 'E may be a commodore, but he is not nearly as good a man as Jack Sparrow."

Elizabeth was silent, as her mind played these thoughts over and over. Her memories of Mr. Gibbs were of the man who had frightened her with tales of hanged pirates. She hadn't realized that he could be a very kind, almost noble man.

Gibbs stood up. "Ah, well, let's just 'ope I get to see me friend again." He spoke wistfully, and walked towards the bow, leaving Miss. Swann alone with her thoughts.



-On the Seastorm (a/n: by popular demand, Will meets Barrin)--



"A'ight, whelp, yer wanted back in the cap'n quarters." Once again, poor tired Will, he was not only aching physically by heartsore as well, was pulled roughly up the stairs from the brig and into the quarters of his foe.

Just like last time, just like Will had expected, Barrin was seated in a chair, and Will was tossed before him. "Welcome back," Barrin said cheerfully.

"Nice to be here," Will managed to mutter through gritted teeth, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Now, as you might remember, I asked ye some things that ye refused to answer. For example, where Bootstrap hid all his precious treasure." Barrin sharpened a knife. Skrt, skrt, skrt... Will tried to tune out the sound that spoke of the inevitable. Then the captain leaned forward. "Perhaps this time you will reveal the location?"

"I told you, I don't know!" Will told him irritably, then winced deeply as the knife slashed across his arm. This little scene was replayed a few times, each time Will claiming he knew nothing, which was, in fact, the truth, and each time Barrin punishing him for the lack of knowledge.

Barrin finally tired of the game. "All right, I'll make you an accord. Ye tell me where the treasure is-" He held up a hand to stop Will from protesting that he didn't know-"And I'll let Miss Swann live."

Now Will had to choose. Barrin was insane, that much was obvious, and he didn't believe Will. So, the only other sensible option was opposite from the truth. He could lie through his teeth. Which is precisely what he did.

"All right, I'll tell you." The boy put on a defeated air, declining his head mournfully, as though he truly was revealing his fathers great secret.

"Excellent." Barrin smiled. Things seemed to be going his way.

Ta da. There we go. Just for the record, let me state two things:

1. Gibbs is NOT in love with Jack.

2. Gibbs and Elizabeth are not going to fall in love (ew!)

Reading it over I noticed that these two things seemed to be implied. So there, they aren't. Review review review and make my day.