This chapter was very kindly betaed by Jackfan2, who must be a very patient person. I love you dearest!

Chapter 7 - Keeping Freedom

Fear of discovery, fear for his friend in the cell and for the woman he loved made Will's hands shake so much that they didn't seem to be able to work. He and Elizabeth had been smart enough to gather all the keys that they found along the way, but not one seemed to fit the cell in which the pirate was incarcerated. Nerves getting the better of him, Will's hands began to tremble even more. What if the right key wasn't here? What if they couldn't open the door?

Seeing Jack, his friend, for the first time worried Will more than he wanted to admit. The person sitting in the cell was but a shadow of his friend, the infamous pirate captain. Jack was too pale, too thin and far too bruised to be healthy. And from the time they entered the area they knew Jack had to have heard them, yet he hadn't spoken since his first recognition.

"Will!" Elizabeth hissed in his ear, "What on earth are you doing? Open the damn door!"

The young blacksmith glanced at her before getting back to the task at hand. 'Why can't I find the right key?' his mind thought frantically. Then, with more noise than they needed at that moment, the keys fell from his shaking hands and they dropped noisily to the stone floor.

With a frustrated sigh, Elizabeth grabbed the keys off the floor and pushed Will out of the way. "Let me try," she said with a hint of annoyance.

"Men!" Will heard her mutter under her breathe, however, concern for his friend and now for his fiancé, and the jeopardy of their situation, gave him no time to register her tone. After a couple of tries Elizabeth found the right one and with a sigh of relief, she opened the door of Jack's prison.

Standing at the entrance to the small chamber, the couple noticed, Jack still had not moved. Weary, dark-rimmed eyes flashed occasionally to a dark corner of his cell, but other than that, he hadn't spoken a word. His eyes remained passive and fixed straight ahead.

"Jack?" Elizabeth said hesitantly as she slowly approached him. Her movements were uncertain as if he were trapped wild animal. "Jack, we're here to help you…"


When Elizabeth took another step closer the pirate captain flinched and pressed his back against the wall. Horrified, Elizabeth realized he was trying desperately to melt into the wall, wanting to disappear... Helplessly she turned to Will, a stricken look on her face.

"He's scared of me," her voice is barely above a whisper, concern and confusion evident in her eyes.

With a nod, the blacksmith stepped around her and took a small step toward the pirate he called friend. "Jack? We need to get you out of here before someone finds us out." With little hope that he'd been anymore successful, he reached out a hand silently praying… To his surprise and great relief Jack's eyes focused on the hand and very slowly the pirate took the offer of assistance getting unsteadily to his feet.

"William?" Jack said hoarsely. He cast a confused look from the blacksmith to the young woman at his side.

The word was spoken so softly Will wasn't certain he'd heard it. However, Elizabeth's sharp intake of the breath assured the young man that his ears did not deceive him.

"Yes, Jack," he smiled slightly, "we're here to help you."

Without warning, Jack teetered dangerously toward the floor. Only Will's quick reflexes caught him before he hit the hard stone floor. Uncertain as to the extent of the pirate's injuries, the blacksmith hesitated only a moment before taking one of the pirate's arms gently over his own shoulder to brace his weight. Together the two men move carefully out of the cell with Elizabeth following closely behind. Once outside the room that had been Jack's personal hell for weeks, Elizabeth closed the door quietly then lead the way down the dark corridor.

Determined, yet cautious, the young couple moved steadily half dragging half carrying the pirate further away from place where he'd obviously been tormented for weeks. They had no idea the horror's he'd suffered but they knew without a doubt that they needed to get their friend out of here, back to freedom, back to safety and, if they could manage it, back to his ship, the Black Pearl. Their progression was slow, as to Will's increasing alarm, the pirate leaned heavily against him, a testament to the man's weakened condition. Inside, the blacksmith seethed with rage at what his captor's had done to his friend.

Their journey to exit the prison was long and slow, too long in Will's humble opinion. It should have been comforting that there were no screams of alarm that the prisoner had escaped, no running footsteps, no sounds of pursuit. Nothing. No, the only sounds they could hear were the soft mumblings from some of the guards he and Elizabeth had knocked unconscious in their earlier entrance to the prison. That was it, nothing more. And while he should have been comforted by the lack of interruption, the lack of sound worried Will more. This was going far to easily.

And then there was Jack. Jack, who slowly moved along leaning heavily on Will's shoulder for support. While no words and no sounds came from his mouth during their arduous journey, the pirate's tightly set jaw spoke volumes. Will had no doubt that his friend was in awful pain, the bruises look too dark and fresh not to be causing him discomfort. Will also noted how Jack clutched his left arm tightly to his side, a sure indicator that something was definitely wrong with it. But for now, there was not time to worry about it as the need to get out of the prison held first priority. The pirate was alive, they had found him, and they were getting him out of here. Tending his wounds would have to wait until they were safely away from this hellhole.

The only thing that seemed to be alive on Jack was his eyes. Those now weary, bloodshot eyes that were like two black pools filled with desperation and fear. These were qualities of the man Will had never seen, never hoped to see and would never forget. They nervously scanned the dark surroundings, sometimes glancing at Will, then to come to rest on Elizabeth's back before again darting to the shadows around him. Several times Jack cast nervous glances over his shoulder as they moved along, as if he heard something or somebody that neither he nor Elizabeth had detected. It was disconcerting for the blacksmith and increased his worry at the possibility that they'd make it out of this place unscathed and unchallenged. Surely the pirates long years of struggling for his life had made his senses sharper and more acute than his own.

With sudden clarity, Will started to recognize the area around them and to his own relief he noticed that the way out is not far away. If only they could move a little quicker, if only he had an idea as to what to do when they were outside. Jack's escape wouldn't go unnoticed forever and in his condition they could not escape without some assistance from him. Where would they hide? Not on their boat, Will was convinced that that Toomey guy would search the harbor first. They could not sail away either: Toomey would find out soon enough that one boat was away and they were no match for the Pearl. Will cursed under his breath: why hadn't he thought about all this before? Why hadn't he searched for a good hiding place?

Then they heard it. A faint voice and murmuring behind them, ""Sparrow is gone!"

Too close for their own liking they heard running footsteps and screaming voices.

"Come on, Jack!" muttered Will, while dragging the pirate captain with him as quickly as possible. To his utter amazement, Jack suddenly seemed to come alive. With a quick movement he shrugged away from Will's supportive shoulder and three long strides later he moved up next to Elizabeth. A stunned, but relieved smile creased the blacksmith's face as the three now took off at a fast run.

With a final push the three came to a stumbling halt outside and dropped one by one onto the warm sandy beach. The three sat momentarily and struggled to replenish their straining lungs with air. All of them were relieved and stunned to have made it out alive, but they still had much to consider. They were by no means safe.

With a worried glance Will noticed that Jack's eyes were closed tight against the glaring sunlight. Realization slammed into him that this had probably been the first time in weeks that the man had seen or felt the sun's warmth or the tropical breezes against his skin, More of a concern was that the pirate seemed to be trembling even with the warmth. Will cast a worried look at Elizabeth and the same fear echoed in her eyes.

Elizabeth looked uncertainly at him before turning to Will. "What now?"

Behind them they heard more voices, and according to what they hear, more and more unconscious guards are either discovered, or waking from their forced slumber. The anxious trio realized it wouldn't be long before the guards too were outside searching for the escaped prisoner and his rescuer's!

"I don't know," Will whispered unhappily. Why couldn't he have a little more pirate blood? Why couldn't he come up with some legendary escape plot?

Suddenly Jack turned to them, "Follow me." With that, he turned and disappeared into the night. Elizabeth and Will, taken by surprise, hesitate only a moment before following after the swiftly moving pirate.

~*~

As he moved swiftly, painfully toward the dense coverage of the heavily forested part of the island, Jack's mind turned furiously at the new situation he suddenly find himself in. He had no idea how he suddenly came to be in the company of Will and another lad. In a vague memory, he recalled arguing with a voice in the corner of his little hell, that prison room in which he'd been incarcerated for over two weeks. Many a dream had invaded his conscious thoughts during that time. Dreams that helped him escape, if only in his mind. Dreams of a different time, a time when he was a young captain, but for now he pushed those memories aside. Only one pursuit mattered now: freedom.

"Ye deserve no freedom, Sparrow."

The voice. Unfortunately no longer in the corner where Jack had hoped to leave it behind. He shook his head. Freedom, that was the most important thing now.
As they move steadily along the sandy beach, yet undiscovered, Jack heard Will and the other lad behind him. Who is that other lad that assisted Will in his rescue? The lad's voice sounded familiar, but again, that was an issue to worry about later.

If his memory served him correct then there was supposed to be some high coastline on this island along with rocks and caves. Caves were always good hiding places. Why else had so many legendary pirates hidden away their treasures in those things?

Suddenly he heard stumbling footfalls from behind him. Just in time he turned to see the lad, the one he couldn't place, stumble over an exposed tree root and fall heavily to the ground and remain.

"Elizabeth!" Will called out while he worriedly bent over the lad on the ground.

Elizabeth? Jack's mind turned quickly. In two long strides Jack stood next to the couple, Will was knelt down in the sand by. . . Elizabeth..

"Elizabeth?" he whispered carefully and knelt on the other side of her.

Two bright familiar eyes looked up at him and a hesitant smile tipped on corner of her mouth. "Jack," the familiar voice of Elizabeth Swann replied softly.

"By Davey Jones Locker! Liz, we are so stupid!". The young blacksmith turned worried eyes to the pirate. "That's why you didn't recognize her! She's still disguised as Alan!"

Elizabeth too came to the same realization; she was still dressed up as a young lad, as Alan Smith. The fact that Jack had not earlier recognized her, had probably saved her life, and alternately gave the pirate a degree of mistrust toward her when she'd tried to approach him in his cell.

Jack shook his head. "Ye can explain tha' to me later, mate. Why didn't ye say ye two were tired?"

For a moment Will was dumbfounded. Yes, he and Elizabeth were tired, but as far as he could see, not half as tired as the pirate captain himself. They hadn't spent an untold number of days in that small room at unmerciful hands.

Without another word, and seemingly unmindful of his injuries, Jack lifted Elizabeth into his arms and stood carefully. The young lady was far to shocked by his sudden action to respond immediately, but respond she did. Her arms flailed at his back, as she demanded in whispered tones to be put down.

"I would really appreciate it if ye wouldn't move so much, luv," the captain whispered in her ear, the pain clearly evident in his voice.

"Jack!" Her hands stilled, but she verbally persisted. "Put me down! You're in no condition--"

"No, luv." And Jack replied evenly and started walking again.

Seeing that the man would not brook argument, Elizabeth decided not to move for fear she'd cause him more pain. Instead, she concentrated on making herself as light as a feather and less of a burden, but guilt at her own weakness gave her pause.

In the beginning Will argued with Jack that if Elizabeth needed carrying, he should be the one to do so. She was after all, his fiancé and Jack was in no condition to take on the added burden.. It was, however, for naught as Jack continued to walk ignoring him. Will had not choice but to give up his argument and follow. Arguing took to much time and that time was better spent putting as much distance between themselves ant this place as quickly as possible.. Of great relief to them all was the fact that they'd not heard for some time, the running footsteps of the guards at the prison. For now they seem to have escaped, for now that is.

Minutes went by and still they are going through various bushes, trees and other rough terrain. Jack no longer spoke; the only sounds he made were occasional, unrecognizable mutterings under his breath, which made Elizabeth glance worried at her blacksmith. But the time for protest was long past.

As they moved steadily on, they noticed the surroundings were changing rapidly from the lush green island plants to rocks and sandy soil. In relief the sound of the sea meeting with the island's boundaries, became clearer and stronger as they realized they were closer to final escape. Emerging from the foliage of the island brush, they stopped as the now stood above the high rocks of the coast. The view was breathtaking, illuminated only by the light of the moon.

A little path, that Will hadn't noticed before, lead them down the cliff and after ten minutes of slow, muscle straining descent, they arrived at a large cave at the base. Jack entered first and carefully put Elizabeth down on her feet again, a small hiss of pain echoing into the hollow abyss as his injuries protested. Then, wordlessly and without warning, he dropped ungracefully to the ground, finally clinging to the darkness that has been struggling to claim him ever since the first beating.

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Is it just me or is Johnny D. getting younger when the years go by instead of older? WOW, what a good-looking young man he was during to Oscars!

Responses to reviews (71 already O_O ):

Rissa - Indeed Jack is escaped! YAY! Although I'm not sure if that's such a good thing just yet

Pendragginink - I'm seriously curious how Jack is going to respond if you would call him 'hero' right in his face… he will probably get seriously drunk (isn't he always?) and laugh at you (that is a good thing! Grinning Jack = 3 )

J.L.Dexter - Thank you XD

Crystal - I'm sure this was not quick enough for you, but I apologize!

Captin Red Black - Hand me over the Norrington? I don't think that is such a bad thing ;)

Eleanor - Cliffhangers… what can I say? =]

Anaticulapreacantrix - Does Jack needs some rum or do you? Probably both I guess

Jackfan2 - You are an angel! Are you sure you want to continue doing this 'job'? Seems like an awful lot of work to me. *biggest hugs to you*

Captain Black Athena - Yep they found each other again. Now only hope that they don't loose each other again

Burnedtoastgirl - I think Jack needs all the hugs he can get at the moment

Merrie - I would have said that you liked JackMadness and JackTorture :P Now please continue that awesome story of yours! (although I still need to catch up reading *blush*)

Hanna - Thank you very much!