PineAppleLint: To be completely frank… I have no idea what the hell I am doing! I have a basic idea of where I'm going, but like you, I wing it. I had no idea how that chapter would turn out until I finished it. laughs Anyway, I'm writing this only moments after receiving your review. The moment the message popped up saying I had a review I was thinking, "that must be PineAppleLint! Whee-hee, I wonder what she has to say!" So yeah, you just made my day. Just thought you should know that. But you wanna know something? I would love to e-mail you and be able to have an actual correspondence and not have to talk through reviews, but my dad will not let me give my e-mail out to people I haven't met in person glares Sometimes I hate parents…
And to all my other reviews that-I don't-have-the-time-to-write-personal-notes-to: I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!! Without your reviews I would be nowhere, or maybe I should say this story would be nowhere?
Secrets of the CaribbeanWritten By: Riley Barton
[Chapter Eleven]
Elizabeth tightened her grip on the golden candelabra she held in her hands, ready to slam it into the head of the first person that walked through that door. The sound of swords clashing could be heard from her temporarily safe location in the mess, and though that sound was chilling, the gunshot she had heard a few minutes ago had startled her beyond reason. She couldn't help thinking that someone she knew was lying on the ground, dying, while she was safe and sound. Why had Will insisted that she stay in there? She had dealt with Barbossa and his crew, so why couldn't she handle a couple of pirates? She knew there could be no more than three out there, fighting the entire Black Pearl's crew single-handedly. How much longer could this pathetic fight wear on?
In answer to the unspoken question, the door burst open and a man stumbled inside. Elizabeth bolted forward, swinging out with her makeshift weapon. The man instinctively covered his head with his arms, and the candelabra slammed into his left wrist.
"Ay! Elizabeth!"
Elizabeth froze, staring wide-eyed at the man she had just struck. "Oh, Will, I'm so sorry!" she gasped out, dropping the candelabra to the floor. "Is it broken?"
Will winced, holding up his left hand. "No, but it's badly bruised." He chuckled. "At least I know you can take care of yourself."
"We'll need to get some ice or something on that."
"Really, I'll be fine."
"If you're certain." Elizabeth seemed doubtful, but let it slide. "Do we have any idea who these pirates are yet?"
Will, massaging the growing bruise on his wrist, shrugged. "All I could get out of Mr. Gibbs was that they're enemies of Jack and Scarlett and that some captain they call Garret Ansgar is looking for them. Gibbs only just barely saw the two spies lingering inside the inlet."
"How many are there?"
"Three, but one's dead. I was the only one to see him. He had snuck in through another entrance and I shot him. It looked as if he had been struggling with someone, but when he dropped to the ground no one else was standing there."
Elizabeth frowned. So Will had been the cause of the gunshot. She shivered, trying to block the mental picture of the man she loved killing someone, even if the person was a pirate. "Have Jack and Scarlett arrived yet?"
Will shook his head gravely. "Not yet, but we're all looking out for them. They should be arriving together."
Gibbs stumbled into the room, swiping a hand across a bleeding cut on his forehead. He smiled wryly. "Got 'em," he stated. "There was only two of 'em, but they put up a Hell of'a fight."
"Was anyone on our side hurt?"
"Not as far as we can tell." A worry line creased his forehead. "I'm starting to worry 'bout Scarlett and Jack, though. No one's seen 'em at all."
"Scarlett isn't here?" a voice asked from behind Gibbs.
The three in the mess jumped, none of them having heard Jack approach.
"Jack, you're alive!" Will seemed relieved at this.
Jack ignored him, looking between Elizabeth and Gibbs. "Scarlett should 'ave been here over five minutes ago," he said.
A jolt of worry rose up inside Elizabeth. "She wasn't with you?"
Jack shook his head. "She was, but then we went out separate ways. She was s'pose to come 'ere while I went after Ansgar."
"Jack, you shouldn't have left her alone!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "She's ill!"
"We weren't that far from one'a the entrances!" he said in his defense.
Will paused. "Which entrance did she come in through?" he asked slowly.
"Th' harder one on the far end of the beach. Why?"
Will looked to Elizabeth, who was slowly starting to understand. Her eyes widened and a hand rose to her mouth. "You don't think…"
Will nodded, looking back to Jack. "I think I know where we can find her, but Jack, be prepared for the worst."
The cool ocean breeze blew her blonde hair across her vision and a serene smile lit the face of Scarlett Bane. She took a calming breath and leaned out over the railing of a ship, basking in the breeze and smell of the ocean air. Everything was so peaceful, and she felt as if she was queen of the seven seas. All her worries were behind her. All she would focus on now was the gentle rocking of the ship underneath her feet and the song of the seagulls flying overhead in the clear blue sky.
Suddenly the sound of approaching footsteps behind her drew her gaze away from the glittering crystal blue ocean to a man standing a few feet behind her. She frowned, not being able to see his face due to a sudden fog that had enshrouded the deck. She strained to see through the haze, feeling frustrated that she could not. "Who's there?" she called.
Silence was her answer, but then the sound of footsteps drew nearer, a black shape coming toward her. Involuntarily she took a step back, her back pressing up against the wooden railing. "Answer me!" she demanded angrily.
"You always were an inquisitive one, weren't you, kid?" the man said tauntingly, his voice revealing a ring of sarcasm and pleasure.
Scarlett knew that voice, and a mental image of this man appeared in her mind before she could even see his face. Fear rose inside her, an emotion and feeling she loathed more than anything. She wasn't supposed to be afraid of anything, her father most of all.
"Are you frightened, Scarlett?" her father asked, smirking. He reached out a hand and stroked her face. She jerked back; he laughed. "You never did stick up for yourself. Always hiding behind that rich kid, you were. What was his name?" He paused, a slow smile of recognition crossing his cruel face. "Ah yes, Jack, wasn't it? The whelp of Carver and Aubrianna Anderton?"
Scarlett glared at him. "Piss off," she growled.
Marshall Bane shook his head, a twinkling gleam forming in his eyes. A chill went down her spine at the gleam that was all too familiar. "You've got a soft spot for him, don't you? Maybe you even-"
"Shut up!" Scarlett felt a flaming heat rise to the surface and her hands balled into fists. "One more word from that mouth of yours and I swear I'll kill you."
"'Bout time you stuck up for yourself."
Scarlett rammed into him, slamming her father to the ship's deck. She swung her fist back, ready to punch his nose in, but now the face she was staring at wasn't her father. Instead, it was that of a young boy with curly black hair hanging down to his shoulders with rich brown eyes. Her heart went into her throat. "Oh my God," she whispered, quickly backing away. She crawled backwards, tumbling to her feet, using the railing as support. She watched as the young boy stood up, his gazing turning up to meet hers.
"You were going to hurt me," he whispered brokenly, tears welling up in his eyes.
Scarlett shook her head, a single tear rising in her own eye. "No, I wasn't… I – I thought-" She jerked as the young boy abruptly grew taller, his curly black hair growing out into a straight, thick mass of black hair strung with beads. The eyes didn't change, still the same dark brown, except now the young boy had become Jack Sparrow.
"Scarlett."
"No, this isn't happening," Scarlett whispered. "This is a dream, it can't be real." She gripped her head as she began to shake. "This isn't real, it can't be. It just can't!"
"Settle down, Scarlett."
"No!" she exclaimed, jamming her eyes closed. "This isn't real, it can't be real. You aren't real, this isn't real. It's a figment of my imagination. None of this is true, none of this ever happened. I'm safe in my own bed, sleeping without a care in the world."
"She's hallucinating. Is there anything we can do for her?"
Where had that voice come from?
"This isn't happening." Scarlett looked up to find that Jack still stood before her, a cocky smile underneath the mustache. She glared at him. "Bastard! What are you doing to me!"
"She's growing worse," another voice said. "There has to be something we can do for her!"
"No, there isn't. She'll have to come around in her own time."
"To hell with time!"
Scarlett shook her head furiously. All these voices in her head, they were trying to disorient her, make her believe in something that wasn't there, that wasn't real. She had to get away, she had to hurt, kill, slash and scream. She had to do something to make them stop!
"Leave me alone!" she screamed, furiously letting out a fury of punches at the man -Jack- who stood before her in the fog on the deck of a ship in the middle of the ocean. Jack didn't protest. He merely let her at him, not even wincing as her fist slammed into his stomach. "Go to Hell, Jack! To Hell with all of you! I don't need you, I don't need any of you!"
"What's she saying?"
"I can't tell, but I think she's talking 'bout Jack."
"I'm going to get him."
Scarlett let out a frustrated yell, putting all of her strength into the punches she was throwing at Jack. The cocky smirk had gone, but still he did not protest or fight back. He was letting her beat him. "Fight back!" she exclaimed angrily. "I'm not so weak that I can't kill you anyway! Come on!"
"What's going on?"
"I think she's fighting someone in her mind. You, it seems like."
"You left me, Jack! You left me all alone with nowhere to go. I never should have trusted you; I never should have trusted anyone! Every person I have put my trust in deserted me, but let me fill you in on something! I don't need you! I don't need any of you! I can stand on my own two feet and face Lucifer head-on with a smile. Nothing! You hear me? Nothing will ever stop me!"
Scarlett swung her fist back for one last punch and slammed it into Jack's face. The crunch of cartilage underneath her fingers gave her a satisfied feeling, but then he was gone. Jack no longer stood before her.
"She's done it! God dammit, she's broken the fever!"
As if blown over by a sharp gust of wind Scarlett fell to her knees, her head in her hands. She felt so weak. All of her strength had been drained from her in the fight. A sense of tranquility filled up inside her, and lying on the deck of the large ship, she fell into a deep, peaceful slumber for the first time in days.
A/N: Holy crap. That chapter was a whirlwind, and it took me over an hour to write, but the funny thing is that it just came, flowing from my mind to my fingertips. I hope you guys liked it though. I think it turned out well, and I'm quite proud of it. The names I gave for Jack's parent's are completely false, so please don't start badgering me about it. Anyway, please leave a review, if you would be so kind. I want to get at LEAST 100 hundred reviews. That's my goal, and to be able to say I wrote a story with that many would make me feel so wonderful. Thanks, and I love you guys! Cheers!