quiet-one145: Lol okies okies I'll be good! See, there's NO smut in this one! Hope you like :D
milady*sparrow: Awwww god you are the BEST reviewer ever! Thank you so much you're lovely, I really appreciate it, not
much smut in this one but might be some in the future *ducks under quiet-one's expression* hee hee. And Jack Sparrow is
my DREAM partner, I can't get enough of him either!
eva: awww wow thank you! I wasn't expecting anyone new to start reviewing so WHEEEEE! *Ahem*. And ain't rum damn good?!
I got rather drunk on it last weekend :S.
Considering I think Barbossa rules, I don't half make him eevil! MWAHHAAHAAA!
Oooh and I was thinking for a pos. sequel, more based around Rita and *change of plans....* Commodore Norrington? With
of course other characters inc. Jade all being in it. I've kinda got a semi-plan if ppl like the sound of that, so
lemme know :D Enjoy...
** = flashbacks
*11*
Will joined the crew of the Black Pearl as they stood and stared at the Isla de Muerto with grim expressions. Nothing
but bad memories came from such a place, and Will could not help the trepidation that he was beginning to feel. His
initial concerns had not left him even if his trust of Jade had improved somewhat. This was still a stupid action and
there were STILL enough risks to cause that deadened tightening in his chest. This foreboding did not seem ready to
leave him any time soon, and the mere fact that he even felt it caused his concern to grow. Was some inner part of him
trying to warn him that this was all going to go hideously wrong? Maybe Jack was wrong, and he was no more a pirate than
he was a duck. Certainly a real pirate should not be so unnerved by the prospect of the bloodshed to come. Where was
his resolve when he needed it? He was not a coward, certainly not, but also he was not a fool. The risks were making a
drumbeat inside his head.
The Sea Demon glided up alongside the Pearl silently as Anamaria came to stand beside him. She gave him an encouraging
smile and handed him Gibb's flask. He raised his eyebrows in surprise and she shrugged "I pilfered it off him a minute
ago. It helps people to bolt their nerves down into their stomachs." Will smiled and accepted it, taking a long draught
of whatever vilely bitter drink it was he had in there. "So I'm not the only one that's concerned." Will said, handing
her the flask back. She shook her head, wrinkling her nose against the strong smell exuding from the flask before
capping it again "We have two very capable Captains here, even if they are both deranged. You don't wait for things to
work Will, you make them work." she said before walking away. Will could not help but think these words to be far more
useful than any soft reassurances that things could not possibly go wrong. If things WERE to go wrong, then they would
have to make them right again. Will grinned to himself before glancing round as Jack exited his cabin. That was the
pirate way.
The crew of the Sea Demon were all coming aboard the Pearl, bringing with them whatever supplies and other necessities
they felt they needed. Whilst the Pearl was a large ship it was in truth not large enough to accomodate two crews, but
most had resolved to sleep on deck. Elizabeth had been inordinately surprised that some of the Pearl crewmembers were
displaying suspiciously chivalrous-like behaviour in offering their bunks to ladies from the Sea Demon crew. "They
might almost pass for gentlemen one of these days." she had thought to herself. Jade's voice addressing her crew had
attracted all of their attention.
"Ok ladies, you know what's going to happen now. You will stay with the ever-helpful Captain Sparrow, until you reach
Dailea island. You will keep watch for my signal from the Minotaur tunnels. If the signal you see is blue, we're all
very rich, soon to be very drunk crewmates..." her crew grinned and chuckled at the prospect of this before she continued
"If the signal you see is green, there is a small problem and me and the others will be needing help. But if the signal
is red, I forbid every one of you to set foot or timber across land or sea to come after me. Because everything has been
lost." Will could not fail to notice how her crew shifted uncomfortably at this order and was warmed to his core at the
support they gave their Captain. "Now get to sortin' yourselves out you bunch of cockroaches, and make yourselves
useful while you're taking up space on this lovely ship!" she declared, sending them all flailing off in different
directions. She now walked up to where Jack and Will stood together.
Jack's eyes narrowed in appraisal of the dress Jade wore. An indiscrimate blue-green. "Didn't think you'd still be able
to fit into that little number Jade." he said, unsure of his own reaction to seeing the Jade of now looking so like the
Jade of the past. Jade shrugged and flicked at the unwielding skirts "Barbossa wanted a whore, not a pirate woman. I
have to look as he remembered me." The bluntness of her words made Will wince, and he saw how they cut Jack. He was
more than aware of the developments between Jade and Jack, even if they did hide it impeccably well. They were as surly
and rude with each other as ever, not allowing whatever occured when they were alone to effect how they treated each
other. However, certain glances that he caught between them might as well have been screams, but he knew they had no
wish for such things to become public knowledge. Whilst Will was also sure that Elizabeth knew of it, he never discussed
it with her. "Nothing can come from it. Not when I am who I am, and he is the drunken fool that he is. I'm just...
indulging my insane wants" Will had heard Jade whisper earnestly to Elizabeth before he had entered the room, and the
conversation had been stopped abruptly short.
Nothing could come from it.
He could not help but agree with this sentiment.
Jade was now turning to Rita and conferring about her return to the Pearl. "I don't wan' to come back Jade. I don't
trust you to save your own skin if you can." said Rita insistently, vestiges of her African accent creeping out in her
anxiety. "I can save my own skin just fine Rita, if something goes wrong, this crew will need your skin to keep them
alive, and more literally so they can get some of that gold. They won't want to have been dragged here for nothing, it'll
keep them sweet for you." said Jade, grinning with a grim nature beneath it and nudging her shoulder. Rita's eyes
widened and she remained stiffly still, almost shrunken in size. "What are you sayin'?" she whispered harshly. Jade
swallowed tightly, becoming serious, and gripped her first mate around the shoulders, speaking in a fast low tone as if
to spit out the words of intimacy before they caused her embarassment "I'm saying you scabrous little swine that this
ship and crew is yours if I never come back. I want to live for another hundred years so I can drink and dance and
plunder and loot and fight and feel the wind and get damn near drowned trying to put out fires that YOU start on my ship,
and I WILL fight and kill until the last drop of my blood has gone for that. So don't be makin' any plans on my not
coming back. But if I'm going to die, I want to know my ship and crew have a Captain that's worth her salt. D'you hear
me?" Rita's eyes glazed with unshed tears that she fiercely blinked back "Aye Cap'n Quinn." Locking hands with her in
a tight handshake, she turned away.
Jade found herself face to face with a worryingly serious looking Jack. "I was thinking about the plan again Jade luv."
he said cautiously, waving one hand in a placating fashion as he saw the exasperated expression crossing Jade's face.
"Again?!" she exclaimed, pulling pins from her sleeve and proceeding to pin up her hair in coils. "Yes, again. I was
hoping we could change part of it." he said, staggering after her as she headed towards one of the rowboats that was
being prepared for her departure. "What bit would that be?" she asked over her shoulder, only to be spun firmly round.
Jack opened his mouth to speak, a look of agitated frustration crossing over his face in a flash of indecision. Jade
tensed herself.
"I don't want you to go." he said finally, shaking his head and raising his arms in a baffled gesture as if he didn't
quite understand it himself. Jade stood in mute silence for a minute, these words thrumming through her brain. This
was the closest Jack had come to expressing any manner of proper sentiment towards her at all. Of all the worst times
for him to suddenly develop a compassionate side! Again that fear coiled up inside her. Using Jack as bait. How could
she be so stupid? The one thing from both past and present that she cherished, admired and loved, and she was risking
it. The resolution inside her strengthened like a death grip. This was her revenge, her requirement. She would not
allow any of them to die for her sake.
"Jack," she murmured softly, stepping up close to him "I have to do this. It will be all right." Seeing that she was
not going to agree Jack instantly backed down, shutting himself off as if automatically. The embarassment of having
shown his concern was clearly too much for him.
"Right, ok. Fair enough. Good luck." he said shortly, flashing a bitter grin and motioning her off broadly before
turning away. Jade bit down on her lip to silence her desire to call him back as he swayed away to his cabin,
slamming the doors. He was like a churlish child for God's sake, a part of her thought furiously, before swells of cold
determination swallowed it up. That and enough sorrow for her to form a cocoon of, but which she froze adamantly in the
depths of her purpose. If he was angry with her he would not be worried for her. Calling Rita over, she clambered into
one boat and was progressively lowered into the water by the crew on ropes. Rita took the other boat, a larger and more
sturdy one from the Sea Demon. It was her who would have to carry the Aztec chest back to the Pearl before they could
disembark. Cutting through the water easily with the oars, they skimmed towards the mist-shrouded island, the two ships
getting smaller with each stroke.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Taking a tendril of her red hair, Jade sliced it cleanly off with a knife, trailing the gleaming strands from her
fingertips into the bowl of powder Rita had placed at her feet. Rita had lit torches randomly about the cave so that the
shadows danced to their steady heartbeats, flickering as remnants at the edge of Jade's vision. "What is that Rita?"
she asked absentmindedly, her eyes already hardened, cold and vacant, for the confrontation with her own private demons.
Rita glanced up from where she was crouched drawing her native symbol of life on the rock where Barbossa had fallen and
looked across at the bowl of powder. "You really want to know? It's ground bones, sea kelp and strands of feathers.
Life from Earth, life from Sea, life from Air." she said humorlessly, finishing the symbol and straightening. "What
about Life from Fire?" Jade asked, only half listening, but nevertheless curious. "There is no life from fire. All
Fire creates is destruction."
Having said this, Rita took the nearest torch and pressed the dancing flame against her arm.
Letting out a sharp yowl of pain as the flesh scorched, she dropped the torch and crumpled to the floor, Jade flying
over the catch hold of her. "What in God's name are you doing you stupid whore?!" yelled Jade, eyes fully awake now,
fully focused on her friend as she trembled in pain. Rita dragged in a shuddering breath and managed a shaky smile
"Humans are... destructive. So Fire's destruction is required... to bring him and his crew back." Jade impatiently
wrenched Rita's hand from the wound, drawing in breath sharply at the burnt pulpish pink flesh. She had never questioned
Rita's loyalty, and now she realised with horrid clarity that she had never rejoiced in it either. An unsung ally and
never faltering friend. ".... Why didn't you tell me?! I would have done it." hissed Jade painfully through her teeth,
face taut with guilt. Rita held back a moan against the pain, still trembling horribly, before choking out a laugh "I
wouldn't be a very good First mate if I let you burn yerself Cap'n." she managed. Struggling upright despite Jade's
attempts to keep her still, she took a knife and cut clean across the freshly burnt wound, her blood dripping into the
bowl of powder.
Jade physically recoiled at the sight, Rita's reassuring smile giving her no comfort. "It should not be you who has to
do this." she said quietly as she watched the strain Rita was under not to simply curl up under the assault of pain.
"I'm Cap'n Rekedaine's daughter Jade Quinn. Show some respect for my strength." said Rita sharply, but not unkindly, the
twinkle in her eye showing the humour she grimly clung to. Struggling to tear some material from her shirt to bandage
her arm, Rita looked up to see Jade hurrying forward, ripping part of her skirt and carefully bandaging her burnt arm.
"Stupid little brat." she murmured through gritted teeth, trying to hide her concern. Rita smiled to herself and
allowed her to finish bandaging before taking the bowl and placing it on the symbol she had painted. Jade simply stared
down at the skeletal remains of Barbossa. "I still find it hard to believe we will be bringing THAT into some semblance
of life again." she said quietly, her tone almost awed. Rita took up another torch and dropped it into the bowl, which
came alight in a shooting torrent of flames. "Believe it." she said, eyes glowing in the shockingly bright flames that
had erupted.
The words that spilled from Rita's mouth became a deep resonant thrum, a backbeat in Jade's consciousness in a language
she could not understand. It all seemed so hideously, so idiotically unreal that she could almost have laughed, a
strangely euphoric, drunken feeling slipping over her. The air around her seemed to tingle with poignancy, charged with
energy. Perhaps even with life.
"They say Hell spat you and your crew out. Let's see if they can spit you out again."
Lifting the bowl up, Rita nodded to Jade. Jade opened a pouch in which she had collected fragments of bone from each of
the crew's skeletons. Norrington had not wasted time taking the crew back, they had all been hung right here on the
island. After all, when a crew attacked your ship and butchered your men, it was rather self-evident that they had
committed an act of piracy, and didn't exactly require a trial. With only a small amount of distaste, Jade had cut them
all down and dragged their rotting carcasses in to the cave. Jade took the flaming bowl from Rita and nodded towards
the boats where they had put the chest. "You should go. I don't want them seeing you when they wake up." Rita nodded
reluctantly and walked away to the boats. Once she had rowed out about halfway towards the Pearl, Jade turned back to
her task. Giving herself a mental shake and squaring her shoulders, she emptied the pouch into the flaming bowl, and
blew out the flames.
An impossible amount of smoke seemed to pour from the bowl, filling up the room like a fog in a thick, all-consuming
shroud. In particular Jade noticed as she peered through the gloom, the smoke seemed to gather around the bodies,
coiling round them as though it had conscious thought. The very idea made her shudder as the air seemed to positively
spark with power. 'This is insane,'a part of her thought 'a mist can't reanimate dead flesh for god's sake!'. But even
as she thought such things her heart was pounding in her mouth, and through the gusts of smoke she could see the vague
outlines of the crew... still... unmoving...
Was that one breathing?
Her heart jolted unexpectedly and she stepped backwards, wanting to reach for a weapon, anything, but forcing herself to
remain calm. The smoke was beginning to clear and the tension in her chest squeezed tighter, tighter as her hands itched
for the sword that she knew was no longer around her waist. As the smoke thinned she felt all the air fly out of her
lungs to leave an empty hole inside her as she saw what she had intended but perhaps had never actually expected to
occur.
In grim rows like a procession, lay the crew. Exactly as she knew them, eyelids closed as though in the deepest of
sleeps, they were as they always had been. Bo was still adorned with scars and assortments, Twig still had his beard.
Swallowing down her fear, she turned stiffly to look upon Barbossa. The same nose, the same mouth, the same hair. The
same mottled red skin from the ravages of the sea. She found herself moving forwards whilst it felt like she simply
watched from a great distance, her own actions meaning nothing to her as she regarded the scene with a quiet detached
calm. Kneeling down beside Barbossa, she placed a trembling hand gently against his face, and shook him lightly.
His hand shot up and gripped her wrist viciously as he flew into a sitting position, letting out a roar of horror and
anger. The hand that was raised to strike her froze and she cowered under the hand as she always had, feeling again the
vulnerability, the fear. She was a small helpless girl again, a dog waiting to be kicked. The madness and panic slowly
drifted from his eyes and he focused properly on her face, his expression melting from aggression to disbelief.
"Jade?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The crew milled around in various places about the cavern, some talking heatedly about what the Hell was going on and
what they remembered last, most simply sitting and touching themselves and their surroundings with a mute amazement.
Eyes cautiously drifted to where Barbossa and Jade were standing, distant but with gazes locked in a struggle for
understanding.
"Yeh look different girl." he commented idly, eyes narrowed at her suspiciously. She smiled and shrugged, aimlessly
toying with a tendril of hair "Ten years or so of living on a ship will do that to you. As you'd know." she replied,
giving him a pointed smile. "What are yeh doin' here? And what's happened to me 'n' the crew, last thing I remember I
was..." "Dead?" She completed for him, raising her eyebrows sharply. "I brought you back. Brought you all back," she
said loudly, attracting the attention of the rest of the crew "After I was... shot I was pulled from the water by a young
woman who was fishing. I only know this from what I have been told, because I was in fact, dead. As I can tell you
thought I was. No doubt your first thought when you saw me was you were in your own special Hell. ...The woman
resurrected me, for want of a better term, because she felt it was not yet my time to die. I made her tell me how she
did it." "Aye, and where's this girl now?" asked Barbossa, his voice mistrusting. Jade smiled cruelly "About six feet
under I believe. Hard to resurrect yourself."
The crew laughed at this and Barbossa broke out into a dark smile. "And why did yeh see fit to bring us back then
missy?" he inquired, pacing closer, his wary eye never leaving her. "I've been trying to find you for the last ten
years, but you're a hard man to catch up with. Then I heard that that... BASTARD Sparrow, had killed you." she said,
hissing Jack's name out virulently between her teeth even as it made her feel safer just to think of him. The Port in
the storm. The small remnant of sanity and warmth glowing inside the cold mad anger that filled her as she watched the
man who had bought her. Barbossa sneered "From what I recall you and Jack were on somewhat... amiable terms." he said,
leering slightly as the crew chuckled. She smirked bitterly "I simply don't agree with mutiny. But the man meant
nothing to me, less than nothing. He was a fool, a drunken idiot. And after what he did to you, I feel he deserves
anything that he gets." Steeling herself, she stepped closer, sliding her hands up over Barbossa's chest. He took in his
breath sharply, but kept his face guardedly blank as she leant in close to whisper to him. Still after so many years he
seemed to find her a hard woman to say no to. "I now see that you are meant to be the Captain of the Black Pearl. I see
that you deserve all the prestige, all the power. I wanted to make it up to you, my Love. I can give you, Captain Jack
Sparrow."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** "... plenty of reason. On what course has Sparrow led us? Nought but a destructive one, 'n' a profitless one at
that."
Jade froze at the door, her hand stock still over the handle, before she crept back slightly into the shadows, eyes
trained on the crack in the door. The crew gave a murmur of agreement in the dim candlelight of the hold, all watching
Barbossa as he warmed to his theme.
"The man has no guts, no strength enough to be a real pirate. Reckonin' on sparin' lives and such like, and what has he
given us? Nothin', promises of this great gold on the Isla de Muerto, but he wouldn't even give us the course... Until
tonight."
The general babble of the crew grew louder as their excitement swelled before Barbossa quietened them with a wave of his
hand.
"I hold here the coordinates to the Isla de Muerta. I've told yer before lads, we don't NEED Sparrow! And the one purpose
he served has now... come to a close." The crew laughed darkly at this as Barbossa grinned. Jade could see the enthusiasm
and blood lust rife in their eyes as she struggled to retain her breath, panic beginning to swell through her like a
tidal wave.
Not Jack. I won't let them, not him, he's my sanity in this private Hell of mine. He's the only thing I've ever had
that has mattered and they CAN'T touch him.
Turning on her heel, Jade flew up the steps to Jack's room.**
**Jack looked over the course he had laid out on his maps, frowning slightly to himself as he considered Barbossa's
demand to know the coordinates. Whilst he didn't trust Barbossa any more than he trusted his own mother to suddenly jump
back to life, he did not wish to hide things from his crew. He had after all, stated that they would all have a fair
share. He leapt to his feet in surprise as Jade flew into the room, panting for breath, her eyes almost crazed with
fear. "Jack you have to do something, they're going to kill you! They're going to mutiny Jack!" she hissed in desperate
whispers, seemingly unable to hold still as she flailed in front of him. Gripping her tightly by the shoulders in order
to still her he shook her.
"Calm down Jade, just calm down! Is what you're saying true? Are you telling me the truth?!" he demanded, more
aggressive and threatening than she had ever known him to be. "It's true Jack, I promise it's true,but please we have
to get you out of here..." she continued in a flurry of speech, only for him to release her and look quietly dazed before
focusing on her once more, straightening in hard determination. "Now that's where you're wrong lass. This is my ship,
and if they want it, they'll have to kill me first." He saw her face fall in dismay and fear, but also with resignation.
She knew all too well how much this ship meant to him. How many times had he ranted at her that there would never be a
finer ship on the ocean than his Pearl?
"What do you intend to do?" she asked as he buckled his belt around his waist and threw his jacket on. "Give Barbossa a
big wet sloppy bullet kiss. You on the other hand, are going to stay here, and not do anything stupid." Jack replied, his
tone light but his eyes burning murder. "Please Jack don't do this, you'll only get yourself killed." she begged,
grabbing his hand to try and stop him. Even as she did so the door burst open for the second time, to reveal Barbossa
and the crew brandishing their weapons. "Glad to see you're dressed for the occasion Jack." declared Barbossa with an
expression that said he had already won. This look faded as he saw Jade there, her hand tightly in Jack's. For the
first time, and for the only time that Jade would ever see, emotions she had thought totally alien to Barbossa's dead
heart flittered across his face.
Hurt.
Betrayal.
But only too swiftly, they were replaced with his familiar anger.
"Oh," he said, his tone so twisted with bitter fury and mocking that it made Jade's skin ripple with terror. "Oh well
what have we here?"**
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
milady*sparrow: Awwww god you are the BEST reviewer ever! Thank you so much you're lovely, I really appreciate it, not
much smut in this one but might be some in the future *ducks under quiet-one's expression* hee hee. And Jack Sparrow is
my DREAM partner, I can't get enough of him either!
eva: awww wow thank you! I wasn't expecting anyone new to start reviewing so WHEEEEE! *Ahem*. And ain't rum damn good?!
I got rather drunk on it last weekend :S.
Considering I think Barbossa rules, I don't half make him eevil! MWAHHAAHAAA!
Oooh and I was thinking for a pos. sequel, more based around Rita and *change of plans....* Commodore Norrington? With
of course other characters inc. Jade all being in it. I've kinda got a semi-plan if ppl like the sound of that, so
lemme know :D Enjoy...
** = flashbacks
*11*
Will joined the crew of the Black Pearl as they stood and stared at the Isla de Muerto with grim expressions. Nothing
but bad memories came from such a place, and Will could not help the trepidation that he was beginning to feel. His
initial concerns had not left him even if his trust of Jade had improved somewhat. This was still a stupid action and
there were STILL enough risks to cause that deadened tightening in his chest. This foreboding did not seem ready to
leave him any time soon, and the mere fact that he even felt it caused his concern to grow. Was some inner part of him
trying to warn him that this was all going to go hideously wrong? Maybe Jack was wrong, and he was no more a pirate than
he was a duck. Certainly a real pirate should not be so unnerved by the prospect of the bloodshed to come. Where was
his resolve when he needed it? He was not a coward, certainly not, but also he was not a fool. The risks were making a
drumbeat inside his head.
The Sea Demon glided up alongside the Pearl silently as Anamaria came to stand beside him. She gave him an encouraging
smile and handed him Gibb's flask. He raised his eyebrows in surprise and she shrugged "I pilfered it off him a minute
ago. It helps people to bolt their nerves down into their stomachs." Will smiled and accepted it, taking a long draught
of whatever vilely bitter drink it was he had in there. "So I'm not the only one that's concerned." Will said, handing
her the flask back. She shook her head, wrinkling her nose against the strong smell exuding from the flask before
capping it again "We have two very capable Captains here, even if they are both deranged. You don't wait for things to
work Will, you make them work." she said before walking away. Will could not help but think these words to be far more
useful than any soft reassurances that things could not possibly go wrong. If things WERE to go wrong, then they would
have to make them right again. Will grinned to himself before glancing round as Jack exited his cabin. That was the
pirate way.
The crew of the Sea Demon were all coming aboard the Pearl, bringing with them whatever supplies and other necessities
they felt they needed. Whilst the Pearl was a large ship it was in truth not large enough to accomodate two crews, but
most had resolved to sleep on deck. Elizabeth had been inordinately surprised that some of the Pearl crewmembers were
displaying suspiciously chivalrous-like behaviour in offering their bunks to ladies from the Sea Demon crew. "They
might almost pass for gentlemen one of these days." she had thought to herself. Jade's voice addressing her crew had
attracted all of their attention.
"Ok ladies, you know what's going to happen now. You will stay with the ever-helpful Captain Sparrow, until you reach
Dailea island. You will keep watch for my signal from the Minotaur tunnels. If the signal you see is blue, we're all
very rich, soon to be very drunk crewmates..." her crew grinned and chuckled at the prospect of this before she continued
"If the signal you see is green, there is a small problem and me and the others will be needing help. But if the signal
is red, I forbid every one of you to set foot or timber across land or sea to come after me. Because everything has been
lost." Will could not fail to notice how her crew shifted uncomfortably at this order and was warmed to his core at the
support they gave their Captain. "Now get to sortin' yourselves out you bunch of cockroaches, and make yourselves
useful while you're taking up space on this lovely ship!" she declared, sending them all flailing off in different
directions. She now walked up to where Jack and Will stood together.
Jack's eyes narrowed in appraisal of the dress Jade wore. An indiscrimate blue-green. "Didn't think you'd still be able
to fit into that little number Jade." he said, unsure of his own reaction to seeing the Jade of now looking so like the
Jade of the past. Jade shrugged and flicked at the unwielding skirts "Barbossa wanted a whore, not a pirate woman. I
have to look as he remembered me." The bluntness of her words made Will wince, and he saw how they cut Jack. He was
more than aware of the developments between Jade and Jack, even if they did hide it impeccably well. They were as surly
and rude with each other as ever, not allowing whatever occured when they were alone to effect how they treated each
other. However, certain glances that he caught between them might as well have been screams, but he knew they had no
wish for such things to become public knowledge. Whilst Will was also sure that Elizabeth knew of it, he never discussed
it with her. "Nothing can come from it. Not when I am who I am, and he is the drunken fool that he is. I'm just...
indulging my insane wants" Will had heard Jade whisper earnestly to Elizabeth before he had entered the room, and the
conversation had been stopped abruptly short.
Nothing could come from it.
He could not help but agree with this sentiment.
Jade was now turning to Rita and conferring about her return to the Pearl. "I don't wan' to come back Jade. I don't
trust you to save your own skin if you can." said Rita insistently, vestiges of her African accent creeping out in her
anxiety. "I can save my own skin just fine Rita, if something goes wrong, this crew will need your skin to keep them
alive, and more literally so they can get some of that gold. They won't want to have been dragged here for nothing, it'll
keep them sweet for you." said Jade, grinning with a grim nature beneath it and nudging her shoulder. Rita's eyes
widened and she remained stiffly still, almost shrunken in size. "What are you sayin'?" she whispered harshly. Jade
swallowed tightly, becoming serious, and gripped her first mate around the shoulders, speaking in a fast low tone as if
to spit out the words of intimacy before they caused her embarassment "I'm saying you scabrous little swine that this
ship and crew is yours if I never come back. I want to live for another hundred years so I can drink and dance and
plunder and loot and fight and feel the wind and get damn near drowned trying to put out fires that YOU start on my ship,
and I WILL fight and kill until the last drop of my blood has gone for that. So don't be makin' any plans on my not
coming back. But if I'm going to die, I want to know my ship and crew have a Captain that's worth her salt. D'you hear
me?" Rita's eyes glazed with unshed tears that she fiercely blinked back "Aye Cap'n Quinn." Locking hands with her in
a tight handshake, she turned away.
Jade found herself face to face with a worryingly serious looking Jack. "I was thinking about the plan again Jade luv."
he said cautiously, waving one hand in a placating fashion as he saw the exasperated expression crossing Jade's face.
"Again?!" she exclaimed, pulling pins from her sleeve and proceeding to pin up her hair in coils. "Yes, again. I was
hoping we could change part of it." he said, staggering after her as she headed towards one of the rowboats that was
being prepared for her departure. "What bit would that be?" she asked over her shoulder, only to be spun firmly round.
Jack opened his mouth to speak, a look of agitated frustration crossing over his face in a flash of indecision. Jade
tensed herself.
"I don't want you to go." he said finally, shaking his head and raising his arms in a baffled gesture as if he didn't
quite understand it himself. Jade stood in mute silence for a minute, these words thrumming through her brain. This
was the closest Jack had come to expressing any manner of proper sentiment towards her at all. Of all the worst times
for him to suddenly develop a compassionate side! Again that fear coiled up inside her. Using Jack as bait. How could
she be so stupid? The one thing from both past and present that she cherished, admired and loved, and she was risking
it. The resolution inside her strengthened like a death grip. This was her revenge, her requirement. She would not
allow any of them to die for her sake.
"Jack," she murmured softly, stepping up close to him "I have to do this. It will be all right." Seeing that she was
not going to agree Jack instantly backed down, shutting himself off as if automatically. The embarassment of having
shown his concern was clearly too much for him.
"Right, ok. Fair enough. Good luck." he said shortly, flashing a bitter grin and motioning her off broadly before
turning away. Jade bit down on her lip to silence her desire to call him back as he swayed away to his cabin,
slamming the doors. He was like a churlish child for God's sake, a part of her thought furiously, before swells of cold
determination swallowed it up. That and enough sorrow for her to form a cocoon of, but which she froze adamantly in the
depths of her purpose. If he was angry with her he would not be worried for her. Calling Rita over, she clambered into
one boat and was progressively lowered into the water by the crew on ropes. Rita took the other boat, a larger and more
sturdy one from the Sea Demon. It was her who would have to carry the Aztec chest back to the Pearl before they could
disembark. Cutting through the water easily with the oars, they skimmed towards the mist-shrouded island, the two ships
getting smaller with each stroke.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Taking a tendril of her red hair, Jade sliced it cleanly off with a knife, trailing the gleaming strands from her
fingertips into the bowl of powder Rita had placed at her feet. Rita had lit torches randomly about the cave so that the
shadows danced to their steady heartbeats, flickering as remnants at the edge of Jade's vision. "What is that Rita?"
she asked absentmindedly, her eyes already hardened, cold and vacant, for the confrontation with her own private demons.
Rita glanced up from where she was crouched drawing her native symbol of life on the rock where Barbossa had fallen and
looked across at the bowl of powder. "You really want to know? It's ground bones, sea kelp and strands of feathers.
Life from Earth, life from Sea, life from Air." she said humorlessly, finishing the symbol and straightening. "What
about Life from Fire?" Jade asked, only half listening, but nevertheless curious. "There is no life from fire. All
Fire creates is destruction."
Having said this, Rita took the nearest torch and pressed the dancing flame against her arm.
Letting out a sharp yowl of pain as the flesh scorched, she dropped the torch and crumpled to the floor, Jade flying
over the catch hold of her. "What in God's name are you doing you stupid whore?!" yelled Jade, eyes fully awake now,
fully focused on her friend as she trembled in pain. Rita dragged in a shuddering breath and managed a shaky smile
"Humans are... destructive. So Fire's destruction is required... to bring him and his crew back." Jade impatiently
wrenched Rita's hand from the wound, drawing in breath sharply at the burnt pulpish pink flesh. She had never questioned
Rita's loyalty, and now she realised with horrid clarity that she had never rejoiced in it either. An unsung ally and
never faltering friend. ".... Why didn't you tell me?! I would have done it." hissed Jade painfully through her teeth,
face taut with guilt. Rita held back a moan against the pain, still trembling horribly, before choking out a laugh "I
wouldn't be a very good First mate if I let you burn yerself Cap'n." she managed. Struggling upright despite Jade's
attempts to keep her still, she took a knife and cut clean across the freshly burnt wound, her blood dripping into the
bowl of powder.
Jade physically recoiled at the sight, Rita's reassuring smile giving her no comfort. "It should not be you who has to
do this." she said quietly as she watched the strain Rita was under not to simply curl up under the assault of pain.
"I'm Cap'n Rekedaine's daughter Jade Quinn. Show some respect for my strength." said Rita sharply, but not unkindly, the
twinkle in her eye showing the humour she grimly clung to. Struggling to tear some material from her shirt to bandage
her arm, Rita looked up to see Jade hurrying forward, ripping part of her skirt and carefully bandaging her burnt arm.
"Stupid little brat." she murmured through gritted teeth, trying to hide her concern. Rita smiled to herself and
allowed her to finish bandaging before taking the bowl and placing it on the symbol she had painted. Jade simply stared
down at the skeletal remains of Barbossa. "I still find it hard to believe we will be bringing THAT into some semblance
of life again." she said quietly, her tone almost awed. Rita took up another torch and dropped it into the bowl, which
came alight in a shooting torrent of flames. "Believe it." she said, eyes glowing in the shockingly bright flames that
had erupted.
The words that spilled from Rita's mouth became a deep resonant thrum, a backbeat in Jade's consciousness in a language
she could not understand. It all seemed so hideously, so idiotically unreal that she could almost have laughed, a
strangely euphoric, drunken feeling slipping over her. The air around her seemed to tingle with poignancy, charged with
energy. Perhaps even with life.
"They say Hell spat you and your crew out. Let's see if they can spit you out again."
Lifting the bowl up, Rita nodded to Jade. Jade opened a pouch in which she had collected fragments of bone from each of
the crew's skeletons. Norrington had not wasted time taking the crew back, they had all been hung right here on the
island. After all, when a crew attacked your ship and butchered your men, it was rather self-evident that they had
committed an act of piracy, and didn't exactly require a trial. With only a small amount of distaste, Jade had cut them
all down and dragged their rotting carcasses in to the cave. Jade took the flaming bowl from Rita and nodded towards
the boats where they had put the chest. "You should go. I don't want them seeing you when they wake up." Rita nodded
reluctantly and walked away to the boats. Once she had rowed out about halfway towards the Pearl, Jade turned back to
her task. Giving herself a mental shake and squaring her shoulders, she emptied the pouch into the flaming bowl, and
blew out the flames.
An impossible amount of smoke seemed to pour from the bowl, filling up the room like a fog in a thick, all-consuming
shroud. In particular Jade noticed as she peered through the gloom, the smoke seemed to gather around the bodies,
coiling round them as though it had conscious thought. The very idea made her shudder as the air seemed to positively
spark with power. 'This is insane,'a part of her thought 'a mist can't reanimate dead flesh for god's sake!'. But even
as she thought such things her heart was pounding in her mouth, and through the gusts of smoke she could see the vague
outlines of the crew... still... unmoving...
Was that one breathing?
Her heart jolted unexpectedly and she stepped backwards, wanting to reach for a weapon, anything, but forcing herself to
remain calm. The smoke was beginning to clear and the tension in her chest squeezed tighter, tighter as her hands itched
for the sword that she knew was no longer around her waist. As the smoke thinned she felt all the air fly out of her
lungs to leave an empty hole inside her as she saw what she had intended but perhaps had never actually expected to
occur.
In grim rows like a procession, lay the crew. Exactly as she knew them, eyelids closed as though in the deepest of
sleeps, they were as they always had been. Bo was still adorned with scars and assortments, Twig still had his beard.
Swallowing down her fear, she turned stiffly to look upon Barbossa. The same nose, the same mouth, the same hair. The
same mottled red skin from the ravages of the sea. She found herself moving forwards whilst it felt like she simply
watched from a great distance, her own actions meaning nothing to her as she regarded the scene with a quiet detached
calm. Kneeling down beside Barbossa, she placed a trembling hand gently against his face, and shook him lightly.
His hand shot up and gripped her wrist viciously as he flew into a sitting position, letting out a roar of horror and
anger. The hand that was raised to strike her froze and she cowered under the hand as she always had, feeling again the
vulnerability, the fear. She was a small helpless girl again, a dog waiting to be kicked. The madness and panic slowly
drifted from his eyes and he focused properly on her face, his expression melting from aggression to disbelief.
"Jade?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The crew milled around in various places about the cavern, some talking heatedly about what the Hell was going on and
what they remembered last, most simply sitting and touching themselves and their surroundings with a mute amazement.
Eyes cautiously drifted to where Barbossa and Jade were standing, distant but with gazes locked in a struggle for
understanding.
"Yeh look different girl." he commented idly, eyes narrowed at her suspiciously. She smiled and shrugged, aimlessly
toying with a tendril of hair "Ten years or so of living on a ship will do that to you. As you'd know." she replied,
giving him a pointed smile. "What are yeh doin' here? And what's happened to me 'n' the crew, last thing I remember I
was..." "Dead?" She completed for him, raising her eyebrows sharply. "I brought you back. Brought you all back," she
said loudly, attracting the attention of the rest of the crew "After I was... shot I was pulled from the water by a young
woman who was fishing. I only know this from what I have been told, because I was in fact, dead. As I can tell you
thought I was. No doubt your first thought when you saw me was you were in your own special Hell. ...The woman
resurrected me, for want of a better term, because she felt it was not yet my time to die. I made her tell me how she
did it." "Aye, and where's this girl now?" asked Barbossa, his voice mistrusting. Jade smiled cruelly "About six feet
under I believe. Hard to resurrect yourself."
The crew laughed at this and Barbossa broke out into a dark smile. "And why did yeh see fit to bring us back then
missy?" he inquired, pacing closer, his wary eye never leaving her. "I've been trying to find you for the last ten
years, but you're a hard man to catch up with. Then I heard that that... BASTARD Sparrow, had killed you." she said,
hissing Jack's name out virulently between her teeth even as it made her feel safer just to think of him. The Port in
the storm. The small remnant of sanity and warmth glowing inside the cold mad anger that filled her as she watched the
man who had bought her. Barbossa sneered "From what I recall you and Jack were on somewhat... amiable terms." he said,
leering slightly as the crew chuckled. She smirked bitterly "I simply don't agree with mutiny. But the man meant
nothing to me, less than nothing. He was a fool, a drunken idiot. And after what he did to you, I feel he deserves
anything that he gets." Steeling herself, she stepped closer, sliding her hands up over Barbossa's chest. He took in his
breath sharply, but kept his face guardedly blank as she leant in close to whisper to him. Still after so many years he
seemed to find her a hard woman to say no to. "I now see that you are meant to be the Captain of the Black Pearl. I see
that you deserve all the prestige, all the power. I wanted to make it up to you, my Love. I can give you, Captain Jack
Sparrow."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** "... plenty of reason. On what course has Sparrow led us? Nought but a destructive one, 'n' a profitless one at
that."
Jade froze at the door, her hand stock still over the handle, before she crept back slightly into the shadows, eyes
trained on the crack in the door. The crew gave a murmur of agreement in the dim candlelight of the hold, all watching
Barbossa as he warmed to his theme.
"The man has no guts, no strength enough to be a real pirate. Reckonin' on sparin' lives and such like, and what has he
given us? Nothin', promises of this great gold on the Isla de Muerto, but he wouldn't even give us the course... Until
tonight."
The general babble of the crew grew louder as their excitement swelled before Barbossa quietened them with a wave of his
hand.
"I hold here the coordinates to the Isla de Muerta. I've told yer before lads, we don't NEED Sparrow! And the one purpose
he served has now... come to a close." The crew laughed darkly at this as Barbossa grinned. Jade could see the enthusiasm
and blood lust rife in their eyes as she struggled to retain her breath, panic beginning to swell through her like a
tidal wave.
Not Jack. I won't let them, not him, he's my sanity in this private Hell of mine. He's the only thing I've ever had
that has mattered and they CAN'T touch him.
Turning on her heel, Jade flew up the steps to Jack's room.**
**Jack looked over the course he had laid out on his maps, frowning slightly to himself as he considered Barbossa's
demand to know the coordinates. Whilst he didn't trust Barbossa any more than he trusted his own mother to suddenly jump
back to life, he did not wish to hide things from his crew. He had after all, stated that they would all have a fair
share. He leapt to his feet in surprise as Jade flew into the room, panting for breath, her eyes almost crazed with
fear. "Jack you have to do something, they're going to kill you! They're going to mutiny Jack!" she hissed in desperate
whispers, seemingly unable to hold still as she flailed in front of him. Gripping her tightly by the shoulders in order
to still her he shook her.
"Calm down Jade, just calm down! Is what you're saying true? Are you telling me the truth?!" he demanded, more
aggressive and threatening than she had ever known him to be. "It's true Jack, I promise it's true,but please we have
to get you out of here..." she continued in a flurry of speech, only for him to release her and look quietly dazed before
focusing on her once more, straightening in hard determination. "Now that's where you're wrong lass. This is my ship,
and if they want it, they'll have to kill me first." He saw her face fall in dismay and fear, but also with resignation.
She knew all too well how much this ship meant to him. How many times had he ranted at her that there would never be a
finer ship on the ocean than his Pearl?
"What do you intend to do?" she asked as he buckled his belt around his waist and threw his jacket on. "Give Barbossa a
big wet sloppy bullet kiss. You on the other hand, are going to stay here, and not do anything stupid." Jack replied, his
tone light but his eyes burning murder. "Please Jack don't do this, you'll only get yourself killed." she begged,
grabbing his hand to try and stop him. Even as she did so the door burst open for the second time, to reveal Barbossa
and the crew brandishing their weapons. "Glad to see you're dressed for the occasion Jack." declared Barbossa with an
expression that said he had already won. This look faded as he saw Jade there, her hand tightly in Jack's. For the
first time, and for the only time that Jade would ever see, emotions she had thought totally alien to Barbossa's dead
heart flittered across his face.
Hurt.
Betrayal.
But only too swiftly, they were replaced with his familiar anger.
"Oh," he said, his tone so twisted with bitter fury and mocking that it made Jade's skin ripple with terror. "Oh well
what have we here?"**
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~