Chapter 10 Authors Note: I was watching Sinbad the other night, the Brad Pitt and Catherine Zeta-Jones voiced one, and I had the idea that you'll be reading shortly. It's not an outright copy, hey it could have happened, right?

"Elizabeth! Elizabeth!" very loud and irate screaming had Anamaria stumbling up the stairs that would take her top deck. The crew did their best not to stare, they had all taken a vote just in case of unfavorable outcome and Ana was their new Captain. She gave them all a look as if she knew what they were thinking and shook her head. There was no way that she would accept the new position they wanted her to take.

"Who calls?" she yelled enraged as she looked to the horizon. Dread and fear pooled in her stomach, they were in no shape for a ship battle right now. It was the Royal Navy, or at least she had to assume so by the flag colors.

"Jack Sparrow, I hereby arrest you for-"

"Sparrow's not here." Ana interrupted hating to hear his name again and having to say the words, "Come aboard, I swear no harm will befall you if you do."

The crew looked at one another in askance, they never had reason to lose their trust in her before. They had to believe that she knew what she was doing by inviting Navy men onto their ship without making them lay down their weapons first.

Planks were set and to her surprise only the Commodore and Elizabeth's father boarded. Granted, the ship was a lot smaller, well- gunned, but not the huge warships she'd seen before.

"Where is he?" Norrington asked stepping aboard fearlessly. He had studied pirates and could tell between ambush and true intent easily enough. This was Jack's ship and whatever the pirate captain might be, he was honest enough when he wasn't being dishonest.

"Elizabeth isn't here." Ana said changing the subject.

"What do you mean she's not here?" the Governor asked, "She's not-" the color faded from his face.

"She's safe, with William, away from all harm." Ana reassured him, "No worries, savvy."

Norrington glanced at her sharply, she looked utterly exhausted. He remembered Jack having used that phrase before. Could he really have- was this the time he hadn't been able to escape?

There was nothing to be read from her face, but then she was Anamaria. First mate and love of Jack Sparrow she faced them resignedly, her eyes were red and puffy as if she had just been crying. If it weren't Anamaria he might have actually considered that.

It brought back memories, when he was too young to care about the ever-growing pirate threat, when someone else was Commodore...

"Unhand me you scalawag!" muffled sword fighting resounded across the beach. Footprints weaved back and forth disappearing under the waves that washed them away.

"Never, the day I'm beaten by the Navy..." two boys jumped over a sand dune and faced one another. They were out of breath, but both pairs of blue and golden brown eyes were lit with delight.

"Sparrow."

"Norrington." They both acknowledged one another mimicking the way they heard adults speak at the end of a duel.

"Unhand me?" Jack laughed, "Where'd you hear that?"

"The Commodore." James skipped a rock across the water the sword resting against a rock. "Would you ever leave and become a pirate?"

"Pirate captain, mate, and yes. Tomorrow at dawn if the right ship comes to port."

"But a pirate?" Norrington searched his friends eyes to know if he was telling the truth.

"Better a pirate than a privateer." Jack said in all seriousness, "See, what being a pirate is... its more than raiding and looting and all of that. What it is, is being in control of a ship with only your name on it, no one to prove you wrong, and the entire ocean before you. There's no worrying about what the bloody king wants."

"Treason." James remarked quietly.

"That's why they're outlaws." Jack concluded.

"Swear me something?"

"Depends. What would you have me swear?" Jack regarded him warily.

James had befriended him out of rebellion against the father that wanted to mold him into something he wasn't. It hadn't worked out like that though, he grew to respect and even admire Jack's recklessness and rash behavior. One moment he would be standing on the top of a cliff looking down into the ocean, the next he would be jumping.

While the two of them were friends; Jack had an innate sense of instinct and an aversion to speaking anything about himself. He only had let James in on a few things when he thought it was absolutely necessary. Life was too good to be wasting it on living in the past. He fully embraced the future and took each day as it came.

James often wondered why every now and then he saw an almost predatory look come into Jack's golden brown eyes. It was the look of borderline savagery, he saw it right before Jack jumped off the cliff and once when he had fought a duel. He grinned the whole time, even when he had been cut he had tipped his head in mockery of the other man and proceeded to win the fight.

"That when I join the Navy we won't end up battling one another." James said looking down to the ground.

"Join the Navy?" Jack asked incredulously, "Why would you do that?"

"My father enlisted me." James sighed and looked out towards the horizon, "I start in a fortnight."

"Without letting you know first?" Jack exclaimed.

"That's how things are run according to him. He thinks it's the perfect occupation for me, he has high hopes of me becoming the next Commodore."

"Rules, morals, society." Jack threw a rock as far as he could into the waves, "It's maddening! Hang them all! Come on, come drinking with me tonight and let all of them rot."

James set out under the watch of the Commodore only later realizing Jack had never really given his promise. He knew why now, Jack would become a pirate and their paths would inevitably cross. Jack never kept a promise he couldn't keep. ~

Norrington knew enough of human nature not to challenge or attempt arrest this day, he wasn't even entirely sure he wanted too. He had gone with the Governor only because Elizabeth was missing, and although Will was her husband he felt the obligation of at least protecting her father.

The crew was still too quotes and they wouldn't hesitate to kill them should they feel threatened. Grief was a dangerous thing, some men drank it away, others fought at it until they were destroyed in the process. Sparrow's crew was utterly loyal and would do anything for him, he would hate to see how they would react to a Navy Commodore trying to take over their ship.

"Commodore?" Ana asked seeing the vacant look on his face. Why wouldn't they just go away? She didn't want to face anyone, she acknowledged that it was weak of her, but nothing made sense anymore. When would they leave?

"Yes? My apologies." Norrington cleared his throat, "We heard word of the East India Company taking down a pirate ship. Was that-"

"Partly." Ana interrupted, "'Tis too late on any account, 'The Black Pearl's' fine as you can see."

"You have my condolences then on the loss of the Captain." The governor said surprising them all.

"For future reference then." James reached into his pocket and pulled out a vial large enough to hold a pint of rum.

Onboard the ship the Governor had questioned him on what the vial's purpose was. They were the cure for the new threat East India had come up with. He didn't know why he had given pirates, of all men, a cure for it.

There was just the reminder of how truly unbelievable Jack Sparrow had been. He always had a plan, there was an escape for any situation. It was as Jack always said, "they were the last real threat in the Caribbean."

Now that the age of piracy was at an end it seemed fitting that his crew be able to survive for as long as possible.

"Would there ever be a chance you'd file for the Letter of Marque?"

"No." Ana said resolutely with a look at the men around her, "I'd not defile Jack's ship that way, nor would I fly any colors other than these. I'll live and die a pirate, the men can do as they please from here on out."

"Then I suppose this is goodbye." James tipped his head and he and the Governor made their way back to the ship. Jack Sparrow was dead and he would let them go and not look back for as long as he was Commodore at Port Royale. He owed it to Jack.

"Norrington?" Ana smiled sadly, "we'll try to keep things interesting for you."

"I imagine you will." He made the ship ready to sail and left without a backwards glance.

Ana returned to Jack's cabin not needing to say anything more to the crew, she didn't need too. He was in a different position than he was in before, she could swear that his eye-lids flickered. She knelt down next to him and held her breath not daring to hope that he might still be alive for she knew it would kill her if he weren't.

"Jack?" she whispered taking hold of his arm gently willing his eyes to open.

"Ana." He sighed on a whisper. "Love you."

"I love you too. Stay with me, Jack, don't leave me again." Tears ran unchecked down her face in happiness and fear that he would drift off again, "Please, please stay."

"Forever, love." He opened his eyes with difficulty, it took a lot of his strength to perform that one small action.

"Forever." She repeated kissing his cheek.

A/N: No that's not the end yet, lol. It would be but Elizabeth and Will are still out there somewhere! We don't know what happened to them, what the poison's doing and what the crew's reaction will be. Maybe two more chapter? R&R thanks to all of you who've stuck with me so far!!