This could've been entitled THE CHAPTER OF STUPID, UNNECESSARY AUTHOR'S NOTES, but since next chapter is the end, I needed to clarify a lot of stuff. Much apologies for being boring more than once on the same subject. (A heinous crime, in my opinion.)


Alright, yes, this chapter is horrendously far-fetched, but as the wonderful PotC movie so nicely explained, what's improbable isn't technically impossible. And this really isn't too improbable, all things considered.

Just, be nice in your reviews. Not that you guys/gals usually aren't, but just... please. And thanks.

I'm coming quite close to the end of this story. Keep in mind, please, that a soap-opera-ish story is bound and determined to have a soap-opera-ish ending. Swordplay was meant to set up a core story, from which several other stories have branched off.

A complete list of said stories is at the end of the chapter.

Review replies are at the end of the chapter. (Duh, what else is new?)


***


The trek through the jungle to Morgan and Jack's cache of whisky was long and tedious. Morgan and Jack lead the way, Liam following close behind, and Meryl bringing up the rear. To everyone's surprise, Meryl seemed downright cheerful after her brief moment of kinship with Jack, though nobody, not even said pirate, could place reason for exactly why she was this way. But Meryl knew.

She had seen in Jack's eyes something new and awakening, something she had never encountered anywhere else. She had seen in him the bleakness of a meaningless world, and the hardness that could protect a wounded heart from it. She had seen the darkest depths of a man's soul, and the path to overcome it.

In her heart, Meryl had felt a change; instead of feeling taunted by those who would tell her "God never gives us a burden without giving us the strength to bear it", she felt elated by her own discovery, that, in fact, God only ever gives us a burden that we might search out from within ourselves the power to overcome it. God had not given her this strength- he had given her this wound, and left it up to her to heal it.

And she would.

It would take time, but she knew she would.


***


Emmaleanna stood on the bow of The Renegade Siren, telescope raised to her eyes. Now that Liam had gone missing, it was she who had been chosen to captain the ship, though quite a few crewmen thought such to be highly unorthodox. And she was determined to do a good job of it. She squinted. Through the foggy glass she could make out the distinct mass of land that lay ahead, and she knew to bet from her many years around seafaring folk that any men unaccounted for since the Imprintor's sinking would be there or be dead.

And for her own sake as much as Liam and Jack's, she hoped to God they were there.

Something dark caught her eye, and she squinted at it through the telescope. It billowed up out over the trees and then fluttered back down. Emmaleanna waited, and sure enough, it appeared again, some material, fabric of sorts. Heavy fabric, by the looks of it. Sail fabric.

There was another ship there. Another ship on the island. One with black sails.


***


Morgan swatted at the mosquitoes that swarmed about her face irritatingly. She stumbled a bit as her foot snagged on a branch that entwined itself with the dense underbrush. It was so hot... Jack caught her arm to steady her, though it was dizziness and dehydration that had caused her fall, not the branch. She raised her eyes to the jungle ahead of her, and through the thinning trees, something glimmered.

"Water!" Meryl breathed from behind them. "We're back at the shore! We're going nowhere!" She kicked at a tree in frustration.

"No, no, we're getting somewhere." Jack assured her. "We hid the whisky in a cove. You cant get to it by shore."

"We could have swam." Liam pointed out.

Jack eyed him angrily. "You want to head this expedition, Doust?" He didn't wait for an answer. "I thought so, so just shut your bloody mouth. We'll get there."

"We'd better." Meryl mumbled.

The party trekked on in silence for the next few minutes, until finally the woods around them faded abruptly and they came upon a sharp stony cliff that dropped out into the grey, dark waters of the sheltered cove. Through the shallow rippling ocean they could see where the bottles had been dropped, only a few feet under. Some were smashed and broken, having dashed themselves against the rocks, but most were still intact, due to the fact that the cove was sheltered, so that even in storm, the waters were relatively calm.

For a moment, the four travelers just stood and stared at their bounty, none of them bothering to take in their surroundings. The cove was dark, and another wing of it sprawled further out, winding it's way out of view. But neither Morgan nor Jack, Liam nor Meryl cared about such curiosities right now. All they cared about was...

"Whisky, sweet whisky!" Morgan cried, hurling herself into the waters. Jack smothered a smile. "What?" She demanded indignantly.

He jumped in after her and dunked her head under playfully. When she surfaced, they both began to laugh uncontrollably, eyes shining, collapsed into each other's arms. "I love you."

Only Meryl saw through such words. It wasn't so hard to spot the lie, now that she knew what to look for. Behind his shining laughter was a dense fog of pain.


***


The Renegade Siren neared the island slowly. Emmaleanna, as a precaution, chose to sail by hugging the shoreline, so that the mysterious 'other ship' had no way of knowing their presence, save for perhaps scouts on the shore. It would be in view in a few moments now, just around the bend of the rocky cliff, just inside the cove.

"Prepare to fire if necessary." She called out, not entirely convinced that her voice sounded genuinely confidant. The ship groaned underneath her feet as its belly brushed against the sandy bottom. "Careful." She warned, and the man at the tiller nodded, easing the Renegade a little to the right.

They glided into the calm, still cove, and a murmur of voices met her ears. As they drifted further in, a huge black hull loomed up at them. It was a ship. Burt. Beached.

The sails were ripped, the hull was stained with smoke, charred from a fire, eaten away in parts. It looked badly beat up, though, if her judgement served her correctly, not beyond repair. And apart from said qualities, it also looked somehow... familiar.

Telescope once again raised to her eyes, she squinted at the letters etched ornately into the bow. The name rang a bell in her head shrill as an air-raid siren. She knew the ship. Lord, did she ever.

"Missy?" Gibbs asked from behind her. "Ye recognize it?"

"Yes." She said hollowly. "I recognize it. It was my brother's ship. It's-"


***


"The Black Pearl."

Jack stood and stared, dumbstruck, at the massive hull that floated, beached, in front of him. His pride. His baby. His legendary Pearl. Intact.

So the bow was smoke-stained and eaten away in places. Maybe the brig and galley was gone. So what? He'd seen worse- this could be repaired.

He ignored the others as they ran out, wading in the water towards The Renegade Siren as it drifted into the bay with it's stately air. He didn't need that ship... just yet. He scaled the stern of his old vessel reverently, stumbling over the railing and onto the deck. A huge hole had been burnt in the floor where the stairs had lead down to the galley. His quarters were ravaged- his books, maps, treasure, all gone. Gone.

And yet he couldn't stop smiling.

He made his way mechanically from the charred captain's quarters to the tiller. The wheel was fine. It seemed, miraculously, untouched. He smiled and stroked it's smooth wood gently. "Don't worry." He reassured the ship. "Daddy's back."


***


Again, a lot of annoying switching of perspectives. Sorry, bear with me. BTW, that's not the end. The end comes next chapter. *sigh* Almost done Swordplay. What a feat! *cheers*


The other connecting stories are:

A Profitable Affair- prequel- The story of how Meryl met Jack in Tortuga.

The Rain Can't Hurt Me Now- sequel- Aletté's life after leaving Will and Elizabeth.

Of Weddings And Wine- sequel- The sequel to The Rain Cant Hurt Me Now, another tale of Aletté.

Come What May- one-shot songfic of Meryl's thoughts when confronting Jack in the beginning of Swordplay.

The Diary Of Morgan Land- prequel- How Morgan met and fell for Jack. Written in first person, diary form, told from Morgan's perspective.


And a new story I hope to post the first chapter of either tonight or tomorrow:

The Keener- prequel- How seventeen year old Jack Sparrow met, fell in love with, and had his heart torn out by a mysterious funeral crier named Catriona. Pre-movie. Thanks to my reviewers for the idea- love you all!


Okay, review replies:


divinething-

No, Jack's just fooling himself when it comes to Morgan. Poor her, really. Oh well. Yeah, nobody but Bart loved Meryl. Poor her, too.

Commodores R Ppl 2-

Love the new name. Just rich! Glad you like it.

et-spiritus-sancti-

Wow, you're on my kind of brainwave! Yay! That's just what I thought! Catriona is just introduced here, though I'm just posting her story today. It's pre-movie.

Erin Richards-

Yeah, I've given up trying to understand. The Keener, my new story, is a little more in-depth angst. I just feel like messing with the characters a little, you know?

LunarianPrincess-

My friend has a t-shirt that says "Boys are dumb. Throw rocks at them." Thanks for reviewing.

PLEASE REVIEW!