A/N- Ha! I'm sooo evil, but you're reading anyway. Next chapter- the title is a quote from Paradise Lost, if none of you have read that you should, it's a really, really good book- another one you should read is The Da Vinci Code and another book by the same author: Angels and Demons- all are so good…but anyways…yeah I'm on an intelligence binge, reading books bound to get me into college, I'm going to Augsburg with Creative Writing (Literature) as my major and Theater as my minor, my favorite book is Tithe, by Holly Black and my favorite movies: PotC and Dogma, it had to be both, Dogma was out long before PotC- but oh well, please review and know that all your reviews mean a great deal to me and wow I'm rambling…

Chapter Six: Nor from Hell one step more than from himself can fly.

::Recap::

"She deserves freedom, she deserves to live…she spent the better part of ten years thinking I'd killed her brother-"

"And you thought she had done it. It still doesn't explain why." Jack patted the deck next to him and Will sat down, "I love her enough to know that she'll come back if she wants to."

"If she doesn't?"

"Then I guessed her wrong, but she loves me too, I could feel it in her kiss and see it in her eye-"

An explosion caught everyone off guard and a great scrambling on the deck started. Once it was determined that the blow had not come from the Black Pearl, all eyes turned back to Port Elliard…

Most of the island was in flame…

Jack stood frozen to the deck, his mouth slightly ajar and his eyes wide with shock, "Will, tell me that Elliard is not all a flame." Will's mouth opened and Jack interrupted him, "Tell me the docks where we just left Starr are not caught in a blaze!"

"Jack, I'm sure Starr's fine, now here," Will pulled out a leather flask, "drink this- it always makes you feel better." Jack took the flask, took a swig, and then threw the flask over the ship's side. "I'm going back for her, if she's dead all my plans for revenge are all but naught ."

"I thought revenge was done."

"Will, we are going to turn this bloody keel around and we are then going to find Starr, I've lost too much to lose her too." Will clasped Jack's forearm, an open smile touching his face.

"Alright, Jack, you're captain of this rig, what you say goes and what goes is back to Port Elliard," meeting Jack's troubled eyes, Will offered another open smile…if not somewhat foggy, "She'll be fine, she's lived this long knowing you, a few minutes under fire won't hurt her." Jack nodded, the gesture detached and airy, his voice weary, he called over his shoulder: "All hands on deck, turn her round, back to port, we dock." Ana-Maria walked up behind Will, her voice soft:

"Turner, I don't think anyone could 'ave lived through that…this is a lost battle."

"Ana-Maria…you're absolutely right, this is a lost battle-"

"But," Jack threw in, "we're bound to win the war." Both Ana-Maria and Will looked over at him… the scowl on his face had turned his usually sparklingly, dangerous features into a cold hard mask, neither person dared to go against his word at that moment in time. They walked away from Jack's area of hearing, Ana-Maria turned to Will and whispered heatedly into his ear: "We can't go back there, this is madness, the Port is all but gone."

"I know, but he won't listen to reason."

"Then reason'll listen to him! Starr's dead, we cannot go back."

"What makes you think Starr's dead?"

"The docks are on fire, sure sign that she ain't amongst the living." Will let his eyes drift off towards Port Elliard. If Starr had survived the blast, the likely hood of her being anything recognizably human was a far cry in itself. He turned his head to look back at Jack, Jack was now brooding over the ship's wheel, his face intent on the direction of Port Elliard.

"He won't let her alone you know."

"That's why we needs to take charge, he isn't of right mind- there's no telling of what he'll do when like this."

"The Black Pearl all over again."

"Aye," Ana-Maria whispered, "the Pearl all over again…"

"You love him, don't you Ana."

"More 'n a fool should, but I learned 'long time ago that there can be ony four loves in Jack's life." Will's eyebrow rose, "Really?"

Ana-Maria smiled and shook her head, "Yes, the Pearl, piracy, adventure, and Starr, I gave up on him some time ago."

"And what of Starr?"

Her mouth quirked and she giggled snidely, "He loves her, that's really why we're going back to Elliard, he loves her and he won't let her be dead…she's a bit teched in the head, but then again, so's he."

The ship drifted silently into port and the crew docked without so much as a word to rebuff Jack's crazed decision to locate Starr…

::Port Elliard::

People were rushing everywhere, children were screaming for their mothers, mothers were screaming for their husbands, husbands were running back and forth for water to douse the relentless flames.

Unnoticed, a young man cut his way through the panicked crowd like a silent knife, and made his way leisurely towards a pile of rubble, he was cloaked entirely in black; his eyes liquid ice beneath a scrap of black cloth. Slowly he drew a pistol from beneath a flap of leather and aimed it towards the unmoving mound.

Without warning, the man was knocked over from behind, his pistol flying to the mud in front of him, a knife wound to his side; a hairsbreadth later Starr dropped down next to him in a fighting pose, her ivory face now marred by a long languid scar seared across her left eye, a few bruises scattered along her ribs. Turning him over to catch his identity, Starr felt a shiver roll down her spine…he was wearing the mark of The Rogue, he was a member of The Rogue's personal guard.

Starr staggered away from the fallen body in shock and raked her eyes over the chaos, she caught a few shadowed figures slipping into nooks and crannies. The Rogue had sent his own guard out against her, why? Had she done something to disappoint him? It had only been three days, surely there wasn't bounty for her head yet…. Unless the guard had mistook her for someone else, but that in itself was impossible, all the underbelly of the Keys knew Starr Auroras, all the underbelly knew that no one went against The Rogue's trained replacement, no one, unless The Rogue had concerns on where Starr's loyalty now lay…

Grabbing for the fallen pistol, hand shaking, Starr scampered out from the debris and smoking ruins. The Rogue wanted her dead. That realization hurt more than any blow Starr had been dealt, he had sent his Spys out to find her and his assassins out to off her, so they had taken most of Port Elliard down in their attempt to dispose of her, The Rogue should have known better that to play with fire, Starr was as likely to die as a cockroach- fuming with a new burning rage, Starr made her way shakily down the devastated Elliard streets. A black figure lunged out from a doorway with he speed of someone hired for the kill; Starr was faster. In a few short seconds she had the figure, a boy of fourteen, pinned against the coal smeared walls.

"Why're you here?" she growled, uncaring of the pain she was putting him through.

"Da Rogue wants assurance dat all 'is trubbles ar' taken care of." shaken by this news, Starr asked sweetly: "I'm a trouble?" the boy sneered, "Ony yous could evah be a real probwem wiv Da Rogue," the boy let out a strangely strangled cry as Starr wedged the but of the pistol into his throat, "'Right," he gulped down a scream, "he's wanting to know why ye're wiv da pirate, ye can't be wiv dat pirate, it's against all code…"

Starr managed to find a response for this: "Why's it against all code? Wasn't against all code yesterday or day afore that, why now?" that had come out much colder than she'd originally intended. The boy laughed and squirmed in Starr's grasp, "Da Rogue didin say, all he say was dat ye an da pirate were ta be offed , he nevah says why!"

"Well I'd like to know why."

"I can't tell ye, I honestwey can't says why 'e say it, I always liked ye, Starr, ye're a good thief, Da Rogue is becoming a bit loose in da rocks, if ye understan' what I mean."

"I understand," her voice was entirely monotone and her features entirely expressionless as she realized why The Rogue wanted her dead…he wanted an unfinished job to finally end, "I understand perfectly." she threw the boy away from the wall and he stumbled for a few seconds before turning back to search Starr for leave, "Go back to The Rogue and tell him that his bird still lives, tell him that if he wants me dead he knows where to find me, but before that- tell him I'd like an explanation to why he killed me brother, now get out of here!" she roared the last bit and the boy took off running .

Her world crashing in upon her, Starr sagged back against the cobbled walls.

"Old Crooked," she whispered, "I'll be needing your help to go against him, he's might powerful, an it's only me to fight him…" a hot, angry tear slid down her cheek and she pounded her fists against the wall, "Damn ye!" she yowled, "Damn ye to the very depths of hell."

"Come now Starr, you cannot think I'd be letting you go off to fight this war of thieves on your own?" her head snapping up to attention, Starr was greeted by Jack's visage moving in through the wafting smoke. "Only a fool would suppose such a thing." he kept moving to stand right before her, "Then lucky we aren't fools.'

She brushed a wisp of black hair from his perilous eyes, "Yes, lucky we aren't fools." with a sudden surge of passion, Starr stood on tiptoe to kiss Jack lustily on lips, gaping at her in surprise, Jack let a devious smile slip across his beautiful lips, "Off to the Red Roiben then?"

"Yes, off to the Red Roiben, I have unfinished business with a certain Rogue." with that both Starr and Jack sped back to The Black Pearl, smoke and flames billowing behind them.

A/N- So, can anyone tell that my creative genius started dying towards the end of the chapter? It's not dead but it was definitely going bye-bye for a short time so I stopped before I could injure my story, please review, if I get enough reviews I'll post the next chapter- I'm still playing with colleges, I miss being a kid…