Author's Note: Insert apology for long delay here. Hope y'all like this chapter. Personally, I was disappointed with it, but hopefully that's just me. Longest one yet, but that doesn't necessarily make it good. We're almost done here. I'm thinking…one more chapter, probably a short one, then an epilogue.

I wanna get some quick, special thanks outta the way, here: Thanks to my friends Kara (ellamist) for proofreading this, Tim (wildthing370) for giving me the whole idea for this chapter, and Lisa (my freaky little Asian friend) for coming up with the word "Crystallis". Oh and Mr. Hughes, my 10th grade Bio teacher for having such a ridiculously boring and easy class, giving me lots and lots of time to write and play games on my calculator.

CHAPTER 16 – Kidnap Me Once, Shame On You. Kidnap Me Twice, Shame On Me

Jack hadn't bothered to take his pants or boots off the night before. He had collapsed on the bed, fully intent on getting a good night's sleep – the first he would have had in a long time. But just as he'd started to drift off, Lange's words flooded his semi-conscious mind.

"Don't be naïve, laddie. Everyone has a price. Even a member of your valiant crew."

That had certainly jolted him back to reality. Someone had betrayed him. Some underhanded, conniving, rebellious, greedy bastard had sold him out.

He glanced at Will, passed out in the corner of his cabin. 'Well, if someone comes in here lookin' to finish the job, I don't think he'll be much help – at least not in his current state.' After that, he found sleep utterly impossible. Every time he closed his eyes he heard footsteps on the creaking deck stop outside his cabin door. Every time his imagination took over and he was certain it was the traitor coming to do him in. And every time it was just some presumably innocent member of the crew pacing the deck. But by then his heavy eyelids had already flown open again and sleep eluded him for yet another hour.

By the time the sun started filtering in through the cracks in his cabin door, Jack had yet to fall asleep. He was as wide awake as he'd ever been. Will was beginning to stir in the corner. That was Jack's cue. Sleep or no sleep, it was time to face the day – and his betrayer.

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To keep his restless mind occupied through the seemingly endless night, Jack had started to plot ways to unveil the heartless swine. Each plan had been more complex and less realistic than the last.

In the early hours of the night, when his exhaustion had yet to take a major toll on his rationalizing abilities, he thought of simple things. Have a nice, leisurely chat with each individual crew member, slipping in little comments about Lange and his Crytallis, and use his sharp judge of character to determine the guilty party.

Toward the middle of the night, his thoughts were running wild, completely out of his control. 'It was a crew-wide conspiracy!' He decided. 'They must all be stopped! I'll have another mutiny on my hands by dawn!' He started getting uncharacteristically nasty, deciding to torture each crew member as he had been tortured until someone cracked and spilled their guts about the whole wretched affair. 'Get them before they get me!'

But no. The sudden adrenaline rush faded and he gained back at least some control over his sleep-deprived mind. Torture was obviously a bad idea, very bad. In his heart of hearts, he knew his crew was loyal; more so than was typical for a pirate ship. All but the one bad seed. 'Don't be a fool, you stupid pirate. Torture is not your forte. Leave that to the bad guys. Besides, I think we've all had just about enough angst for one week.'

Plan after countless plan flashed across his brain that night, getting stupider and stupider every hour, until finally he'd settled on one. Ridiculous though it may be, it was the best he could come up with, and it was just dumb enough to work.

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After Will had woken up to the horrid news that they weren't on their way home it took him a while to calm back down. But he knew Jack was right. Jack was always right. They couldn't just go sailing about with the enemy onboard. Something had to be done.

But what?

Lucky for dear William, the great Captain Jack had already taken care of that nasty little issue. He had every detail of his plan worked out and explained it in full to the world weary blacksmith.

"That's ludicrous!"

"Aye, but will ye do it?"

Will sighed and rolled his eyes. "Of course I'll bloody do it. I'm just saying it's ludicrous."

"A little thing like that never stopped me before."

"No, no, of course not! Heaven forbid a Jack Sparrow Plan be sane."

Crazy or not, the plan was set. Only two people aboard the ship knew about it, and only two people would until all was said and done. Jack trusted no one but Will. They were all guilty until proven innocent - even Ana, Gibbs, Marty, and Cotton. Not a soul on board was safe from Jack Sparrow's suspicions, save for himself and the whelp.

Jack gently pulled a clean white shirt over his bandaged chest. He strapped on his belt and secured his sword and reloaded pistol, ready at the first sign of trouble. As Will rummaged through a messy pile of clothes on the floor, looking for a decent shirt, Jack sat on the bed and waited, too afraid to venture onto the deck alone. There was no telling who might stab him in the back, quite literally.

When both men were fully dressed and armed, looking slightly less disheveled in their semi-clean outfits, Jack opened the cabin door. At first he hesitated to go further. With all those possible traitors out there, he might as well be walking into the lions' den. But he was still Captain Jack Sparrow and he had a show to put on.

With as much pride and swagger as he could muster, Jack made his way to the wheel of his ship, biting his tongue to fight back the pain coursing through him at the sudden movement. Will followed close behind, happy to be promoted from leverage to body guard and coconspirator.

Gibbs was steering the Pearl, gazing out at the sea, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He was only a little shocked to see his Captain standing there, looking expectantly at the wheel. He may have been half dead and in dire need of rest, but nothing can keep a captain from his ship for too long, especially Sparrow and The Black Pearl.

Gibbs quickly gave up control and stepped back, letting Jack have his rightful place. He looked on in confusion as Jack turned the wheel to the right, when Port Royal was slightly to the left. "Where exactly were ye plannin' on goin' Cap'n?"

"To that island town on the horizon."

Gibbs squinted in the sunlight and, sure enough, there was an island. They'd been there once before and he was sure he knew the name at one time, but it had slipped his mind long ago. "Why not Port Royal, Cap'n?"

"Because I want to go there," Jack pointed out across the ocean.

"But we just came from Tortuga! Ye want to stop already?!"

"Perhaps you've already forgotten, Mr. Gibbs, but William and I have yet to have any kind of 'vacation', and I certainly think we've earned one."

Gibbs was still stunned by his crazy captain's sudden decision, but he let it go and left the men alone at the wheel.

"So far, so good," Will muttered.

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Jack sat in the bar in silence, oddly calm and still. Thankfully, his entire crew had agreed to come to the same one and they all sat in a group just a few tables away. He watched them talk and joke and drink. Not many of them seemed to notice their captain's abnormal behavior, but that was no real surprise. They were pirates after all, and pirates are not known for being the sharpest tacks on the board – at least not the majority. Jack had always seemed to be an exception to that rule. And he was counting on that rare pirate brilliance overcoming the average pirate ignorance in order for this plan of his to be successful.

Will slid into the seat next to him and observed the raucous crew for a moment. Not one of them was paying the least bit of attention to anyone outside their little circle, with the possible exception of a handful of doxies. Even Anamaria - who, not at all interested in the promiscuous women, had been glancing back at Jack's table every so often looking more than a little concerned – was engaged in a heated argument with Marty and hadn't bothered with Jack for nearly a quarter hour.

Now was the time.

Jack sensed this, too. "I think I need a bit of fresh air, whelp," he said, just loud enough to be sure at least some of his crew heard him.

"I'll come with you. I could use some air myself."

A few of Jack's men, glanced at them as they left the bar, taking note of the departure but thinking nothing of it. If the Captain wanted to go somewhere else, let him. They all knew Jack and Will had been taken by some pirate and held for a week, but what was done to them in that horrible time remained a mystery.

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Jack and Will walked as quickly as their battered bodies would let them back to the harbor. There, they found a small forest of palm trees just up the hill. Just a few yards in, it was dense enough to cover them completely. They sat on the ground, leaning against a tree, and rested in silence.

No more than half an hour later, Will was just on the edge of sleep when Jack shook his leg.

"Long enough."

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Half the pirates in the filthy little bar jumped in shock when the door was thrown violently open. Will Turner practically fell into the room, panting desperately for oxygen. The whole room turned to him expectantly. 'At least it's not too hard to get their attention.'

The fact that he had returned in a panic without Captain Sparrow did not escape most of the crew. They stared at Will in horror as he struggled to catch his breath, knowing whatever he had run so fast to tell them had to be horrible.

"It's them!" Will panted. "In the harbor…must've followed us…got Jack!"

The whole of the crew was out the door in a flash, shoving Will hard into the splintered wood in their hurry. Anamaria led the way, followed closely by Gibbs - who could actually move pretty fast when the occasion called for it. The rest of the crew trailed not too far behind them, with Marty, Cotton, and Will bringing up the rear some distance from the rest.

At first, Will was very suspicious of the two. He had very specific instructions to stay in the back to look out for anyone trying to slip away from the rescue mission. But it seemed logical enough that these two would be behind – Cotton was the oldest and Marty, by far, the shortest. Will ran up ahead of them, encouraging them to speed up. "Gotta save Jack! C'mon!" He knew he couldn't get too far behind the group's leaders or the plan would be lost.

He got to the coast just in time to see Anamaria and Gibbs boarding the Pearl, ready to sail after their Captain. 'Or escape…' Either way, he couldn't let them set sail.

Will dug his heels into the sand not far from where he had left Jack. He crouched down low and squinted into the trees. "Wait!" he called to Ana and Gibbs. "I think I see something!" Everybody froze while Will slipped into the bushes. There, he found Jack, sprawled out on the ground, shirt ripped open and bandages torn. He appeared to be unconscious. He darted back into the clearing. "He's here! They must've left him!"

In less than a minute, the entire crew was gathered around Jack's body. They were all fighting to get closer to their captain, making quite a commotion and all talking at once. But Will listened to every word he could catch.

"Move yer ass!"

"Lemme see, lemme see!"

"Who the 'ell would do this te 'im?"

"Christ, lookit his chest!"

"This doesn't make any sense."

"Why would Lange just leave him here?"

Jack's eyes snapped open just as Will's head shot around to find the speaker. They both knew the small voice at once.

"Marty," Will asked softly. "How did you know the pirate's name was Lange?"

Marty's eyes widened in shock as he stared up into Will's ice cold gaze. "You…you told us."

"We never told nobody," Jack said, wriggling himself into a sitting position, obviously no worse off than he had been that morning, earning a collective gasp from the bewildered crew.

Marty stuttered incoherently for several seconds, blatant guilt plastered on his face. Jack sighed. "I can't believe it was the bloody midget." He offered his good arm to Will, who promptly yanked him to his feet.

Anamaria, clearly not understanding the significance of this discovery, pushed her way past Will and got right in Jack's face. "What is all this?! Were you kidnapped or not?!"

"Of course I was! Just not this time." There was a sharp slap as Ana's hand made lightning fast contact with her captain's cheek.

"You better have a damn good reason for this little stunt, you daft bastard!"

"That's Captain Daft Bastard."

Seeing that this would only lead to more slapping, Will stepped in. "Of course we had a reason – a very good one." Ana shifted her fierce gaze to him and, seeing he arm tense, ready to smack him at any moment, Will took a quick step back. "We staged Jack's kidnapping this time to figure out who betrayed him last time. And it worked," he added, scowling at Marty, who shrunk back in fear of the much taller, stronger blacksmith.

"Well, whelp, time to go home."

Will ran after Jack, who was already on his way back to The Black Pearl "What about Marty?"

"I believe there's a nice little island on the way. Well, more of a glorified rock, really. I think Marty's earned himself a…extended vacation."

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A/N: Well, there ya have it. We finally expose the traitor. Hopefully it wasn't who you'd expect. I feel like I should explain why on earth on chose Marty. 1) We know a lot about Gibbs and Anamaria, and chances are they wouldn't do it. But Marty has something like one line! He could be the most malicious little dwarf on the face of the planet for all we know! Probably not, but I think it's an interesting thought. 2) I thought up this story in American History last year and that class had some very immature people. For some reason people kept blurting out "It was the midget!" When I heard that, this whole storyline popped into my head. 3) I have a few different muses, but one of them is Agent Sands and he can be very nasty. He told me to blame it on the midget.

Oh, yeah, I should probably include some kind of disclaimer for this chapter. I think people are FAR too obsessed with political correctness, so if you're upset by the use of the words "midget" and "dwarf", I apologize, but get over it. And, frankly, I don't care which one he is, all I know is he's a short little dude. Do please don't yell at me!!

THANKS

Paine-171229: Glad you thought Lange had a suitable demise. Figured he had it coming, even if it was a bit extreme. Thanks for the review, and good luck with school (evil place!)

InsanePirate624: Thanks again for taking the time to read and review my work. I know full well how important reviews are to authors and their egos so I'd be happy to check out your fic. Always looking for a new one to get hooked on. Of course, I'm sure I'll have reviewed long before I update and you read this…Oh well!

JessieRose: REALLY glad you liked this chapter. Always great to get validation from my favorite authors. Hope you weren't too disappointed with this chapter and the betrayer.

ellennarYay!! Glad you liked the boat scene. I don't know where it came from, but it was my favorite part. Hope you liked this chapter, too! Now gimmie more "Blood of Avalon"! I am way too addicted to that story!

OpraNoodlemantra: The hat was my favorite part, too! Thanks so much for reviewing this again. Good luck with school. It sounds like I'm not the only one with a horrible year ahead of me. I had to drop one of my Honors classes 'cause of schedule conflicts and I STILL have an overloaded semester! Hope yours goes better than mine!

Blue Autumn Sky: Ok, you're review just cracked my up! Hope this chapter lived up to your expectations, at least somewhat. I'm very nervous about this one. Thanks for leaving such a creative review!

wildthing370: Look everyone, it's TIM-MAY!! Jack will get a doctor/nurse, whatever I decide. Don't worry, don't worry. I know how much you love your Jack and want him to get better. :) Good plan on Bono and Edge. Sweet dreams for me! Now what shall we do? I KNOW!! Mr. Richie Sambora!!!!! Whoo Hoo!! Gimmie some of that hot Jersey lovin'! ….Sorry 'bout that, but there was a Bon Jovi concert on VH1 last night, so…yeah.

Beanie2552: Hell yeah, I'm gonna kick your ass!! Don't remember what for, but I'll do it anyway! Spelling problems or not, I find it ironic that you'd be the one pointing them out to me. Hehe, sorry! Don't try to blow me up in Chemistry!! Yes, I'm afraid I'll have to include the females. I agree, it was so nice without them. Loved your rap music comparison. Damn that noise!! We will definitely do Lit Club! Even if there isn't a Lit Club meeting! (Actually, I think that's called "Slurpee") NO MORE FRENCH!!!!! GAH! Now you'll have to suffer through my Spanish!! Adios mi amiga!

Rhapsodyblue15: Thanks so much for reading my story! I'm so glad you found the right parts funny!

Celebrean: Yes, "Pirates" is a wonderful world to get sucked into. Five times in one week is quite an accomplishment! I should try to beat that record :) Sorry nothing exciting happened, but that was just the way it worked out. The action is pretty much done in this story, which is sad, but true. Hope you still like it though. I don't like Anamaria all that much either, but she's definitely the coolest crew member. Oh yeah, I'm gonna try and read some of your Harry Potter and LotR stories when I get a chance. I always try to read what my reviewers write. Thanks for reviewing!

ellamistAw, Kara, you're too much! Thanks for the great review (and the proofreading). I make you proud!! Yayness!!!

Pippin-n-legolas: Thank God! I was very worried that the ending was already getting weak. I hope this chapter and the betrayer didn't disappoint either. Sorry, but it's not Cotton's parrot. Although, now that ya mention it, that would be a very interesting choice. I've actually been thinking about writing a parody of my own story (don't ask me why). If I do, I'll have to keep that ending in mind.

ashlynsYay for the favorite line thingy!! Would Jack have lice? Hm…I'd guess, yes. Didn't think about that. Poor Will. Now I'll have to buy him some kind of special shampoo. And you don't suck at the comments! I really appreciated it! Generally speaking, I don't find them hard to do. All I do is write whatever little oddity or bit of randomness your line inspires. Speaking of your stuff, UPDATE!!!! For the love of Jack, UPDATE!!!! Oh yeah…thanks for the review!! :)

KrazyKid197: I know I already emailed you, but, again, thanks so much!

JackFan2: See, nothing to worry about! Ana is innocent! I never even considered blaming it on her – that would be too predictable. Although I suppose having her under the influence of a curse would be pretty dang interesting. But thank you for understanding that whatever happens happens because my muse wanted that way and, frankly, I have very little control over it. Hope you don't mind, but this isn't gonna be a Jack/Ana shipper. Sorry! Hope you still enjoy it, though.

Ila Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the review.