I'm sorry. I'm a lazy bum. Hurt me as much as you want. I stopped
fanfic all together but I decided to finish this story before taking off.
Many apologies.
***
He was better than anyone she had ever fenced. For the first time, she was facing someone who would be a challenge and they both knew it. Barbossa was too sure of himself, however, which gave her an advantage. He managed to get the first attack. She concentrated on her parrying so much; she didn't see anything else around her.
Barbossa was putting on an amazing display of swordplay. His sword moved faster than she had even thought was possible. He was using more tricks than she knew. Tori knew that her only chance to get in was to distract him. With her left hand, she slowly proceeded to a dagger from her sleeve but she did it carefully so Barbossa wouldn't notice.
She finally succeeded in freeing it. She hid it in her hand until the opportune moment. Then she let Barbossa back up until she was a couple feet from the broken railing where Nick had fallen.
"Ready ta die, Sparrow?"
He leered at her.
"Not yet."
Tori threw the dagger as fast as she could, not bothering to take careful aim.
"What the....."
Barbossa didn't see it until it buried itself in his huge hat. His hand automatically went to his head and he snarled. "That's me good hat!"
While he had done that, Tori had leapt behind him so that when he turned, he had his back to the railing and she was on the side with advantaged. Barbossa cursed as Tori attacked, trying to be as fast as he had been.
He wasn't as fast with his parries but he was faster than was comfortable. Tori managed to hold her attack for a few minutes but only drove him back about an inch. Then Barbossa cut in. He drove her back towards the other side of the deck.
Tori had a sudden idea. She knew she wouldn't be able to beat him in a fair fight. He was too good. But pirates never fought fair. If she could spring this trick, she could finish him off once and for all.
She parried very badly on purpose. He sneered and quickly hit again on that side. She moved away so quickly that he almost lost his balance from hitting thin air. Then she quickly grabbed a rope and swung onto the middle deck.
"What the bloody 'ell? Come back here, ya cowardous dog."
He grabbed another rope and swung after her. She had already landed and the pirates had scattered where she hit. They backed off even more when Barbossa landed behind her. Most of them stopped their fight to watch. Before Barbossa attacked, Tori lunged and then turned and ran after he parried.
She knew she had really confused Barbossa now. He thought that Sparrows weren't cowards and she was giving him the opposite impression. That was good. She heard him following him. She looked up. The mast was straight in front of her. Perfect. Grabbing a piece of rigging, she began to climb, praying that Barbossa would come after her.
"Bloody wench!"
He was after her. For someone bigger than her, he was faster than she expected but she had a head start so it wasn't likely that he would catch up to her while she was still climbing. "Ya'll pay fer this, Sparrow!"
"I highly doubt that."
Tori had reached the top. As Barbossa looked up, her sword slashed through the ropes holding a sail. It went crashing down unto Barbossa. He gave one last scream before tumbling down onto the deck along with the sail.
Tori quickly climbed down and leant over the mass of sail. No-one spoke. She untangled it and found her enemy, his face chalk white. "If ya live, answer me," Tori growled.
There was a slight movement in Barbossa's body and then he went still. Tori put her fingers to his wrist. There was no pulse. "He's dead."
She heard a clanking as the Shadow's crew began dropping their weapons. Only one pair was still engaged in battle: Anamaria and the black man. They didn't seem to realize that they were the only ones fighting. As everyone watched, Ana ducked under the man's arm as he attacked and slashed his chest with her sword. He crumpled.
Those of the Shadow's crew that hadn't already dropped their weapons, did so then. "Well, I'm feelin' rather good about this situation."
Jack strode, jauntily out in front of the defeated crew. He happily threw all the weapons over the side of the ship. "Any of ya scurvy dogs got any rum?" he asked.
When none of them replied, he approached one sailor. "Ya, Sailor. 'Ave ya got any rum on ya?"
The pirate gave him a surly look and handed him a flask. Jack downed it in one gulp. "That's better. Many thanks."
He gave an exaggerated bow to the pirate who glared at him even harder. "Where's Nick?" Elizabeth had come forwards, followed by Will, "I lost him in the flow of battle."
Tori swallowed. How could she tell them? Elizabeth, Will, and even Jack were looking at her expectantly. "He.... he tried to fight Barbossa."
Elizabeth gave a small scream. Her hand quickly covered her mouth. She glanced at Will. He had gone very pale. "Where is..... where is his.... body?"
He had tried to keep his voice from cracking but failed miserably. Silent tears were running down Elizabeth's face. "He drowned. The railing gave in and he fell."
She looked down. This was so painful. And now he would never know she had loved him. He thought she had chosen Reph over him. She hadn't. Wouldn't. She should have never listened to Reph. She had made the wrong decision and it was too late now. Nick had saved her life and she had been incapable of saving his.
"At least Barbossa didn't 'ave the satisfaction of killin' him outright."
Jack's gleeful face was gone. It was replaced with a darkened expression of worry. He looked at Elizabeth who was in Will's arms, crying, and Will's depressed face.
"What's goin' on?"
Anamaria was wiping blood off her sword, causally. She looked at Elizabeth and Will and raised her eyebrows.
"Their son.....err..... died."
Jack almost whispered it, not wanting the Turners to hear.
"I'm sorry," Ana said coolly.
Tori knew that she didn't have that much feeling about it. She didn't know Nick and she was only acting sorry for Elizabeth and Will's sake.
"Five. I killed five men. Can ya believe that?"
Tori turned around to see Reph. She was so tempted to sock him in the face right then for that crazy look of triumph and pride but the fact that Jack was there kept her from doing it.
"Yer a true pirate."
Jack clapped him on the back. "Although sometimes it's better not to be so... uh.... boastful about those things."
"Alright, Capt'."
Jack cast one last look at Will and Elizabeth. They had gone up to the upper deck to look at the railing where Nick had fallen. However, the victory was first in Jack's mind.
"Tori that was one of the best tricks I've ever seen. I must remember ta use it more often. Alright everyone. How many men did we loose?"
"Nine," came the answer, "And Gibbs is wounded."
"I'm fine!"
Gibbs limped into deck in front of Jack, holding a cloth to his bleeding leg.
"Let 'em fix ya up, Gibbs," Jack told him, glancing at the cut, "So they had far heavier losses."
He looked at the group of the Shadow's crew.
"ALL MEN BACK TO THE..... err.... what's 'er name?"
He received an answer from one of the men standing closest to him.
"Okay. Let me try that again. ALL MEN BACK TO THE GREY HAWK! TIE UP THE PRISONERS! BRING UP THE ANCHOR! HOIST THE SAILS! BRING 'ER BACK INTO TORTUGA!"
The crew all swung to the Grey Hawk. They moved a plank across to the Shadow for the prisoners to be pushed across and for Gibbs. Will and Elizabeth finally came away from the railing, both tight-lipped and white- faced. They came unto the Grey Hawk, as well. Jack quickly took a place behind the tiller. He looked at his crew and then at the Shadow. "Blow 'er up," were his only words.
They quickly loaded the cannons. Shot after shot was fired at it. The last of it that anyone saw was it disappearing beneath the waves, still smoking. Tori saw this. She had bit her lip so hard that it was bleeding. Against her will, tears filled her eyes.
"That was one of the greatest victories ever. Wasn't it?"
She didn't look at Reph. Her teeth were gritted together.
"Tor?"
The tears fell. Turning quickly, she pushed past him and ran down to her cabin. Hearing his footsteps coming after her, she quickly locked the door.
"Tori? Why are ya actin' like this? Won't ya talk ta me?"
"Go away," she sobbed, throwing herself down on her bed.
"What's wrong?"
"Reph, if ya don't leave me alone I'll gut ya with a dagger."
"ALRIGHT!"
She heard his footsteps, leaving. Only then did she allow herself to cry as hard as she had wanted to.
***
The Grey Hawk harbored came into Tortuga's harbor several hours later. As the owner was probably still looking for it, it was docked farther out. It would be returned to the center of the harbor during the night while no one was looking.
Most of the crew left the ship for a tavern. Most were celebrating the victory while mourning those lost at the same time. Tori had locked herself in her room and refused to come out. No one had really noticed besides Reph as Jack was in the center of things as always and Anamaria was probably with him. A few times she had held a dagger in her hand, feeling the cold, hard metal beneath her palms. She had considered thrusting it into herself but that each time she had ended up dropping it in disgust. She didn't want to die.
She had tried to sleep but Nick's face kept coming to her, plaguing her. It refused to leave her alone. Finally, after awhile Tori got up and looked around. She could hear shouts and laughter from the alleyways of Tortuga. These people so easily forgot all their troubles....
She decided to go to the tavern. Drowning herself in rum would let her escape from the pain for a few hours. It was what Jack would do.
Will and Elizabeth were nowhere to be seen as she left the Grey Hawk. At least they had each other to console but no one even knew she had loved Nick. She was all alone.
The tavern was filled with people. A few of the crew nodded to her and congratulated her on her fight. Their compliments passed deaf ears. The words just slid past her as she ordered a rum and brought it to one of the back tables.
By her fifth, Tori began to feel the effects. She started to feel relaxed. She was just about to drink a sixth, when and hand pulled it away from her. "Don't you think you've had enough, yet?"
"What the bloody 'ell?"
Her speech was slurred. She looked up and groaned. She had drunken so much that she was seeing images of Nick. Two of them, in fact. So much for the rum to ease her agony.
"I said, Don't you think you've had enough? There's really no reason for you to drown yourself in rum. You won."
"Why do these images have to plague me?" she waved her hand, trying to get it to go away, "It doesn't matter that I won, anyway. Nick died."
As soon as someone saw that she was talking to herself, they were going to make her stop drinking. She wanted the image to leave.
"Tori!" he caught her arm, "Stop. If I were dead, then I wouldn't be here right now."
She stared. The hand on her arm felt real. Images didn't feel real. She looked up at the face the was blurring. It looked too real. This was the worst image she had ever had.
"I'm real. I'm not an figment of your imagination."
His hand cupped under her chin and forced her to look at him. There was no way that could be imaginary...
"It's not possible...." she croaked, "I'm not dead, am I?"
"I highly doubt that."
For a minute everything slid back into focus and her brain cleared. All she saw was Nick looking down at her, hand still on her cheek.
"I've got to be dreamin'."
But if this was a dream she didn't want it to stop. She threw her arms around him. Everything blurred again but she felt his arms holding her steadily. She cried then: unto his shoulder. Some act of god was giving her this dream. Maybe it would last a little longer. Just a little..... her head spun again and she passed out.
***
Again, there's no excuse for not writing in so long but I am sorry.
***
He was better than anyone she had ever fenced. For the first time, she was facing someone who would be a challenge and they both knew it. Barbossa was too sure of himself, however, which gave her an advantage. He managed to get the first attack. She concentrated on her parrying so much; she didn't see anything else around her.
Barbossa was putting on an amazing display of swordplay. His sword moved faster than she had even thought was possible. He was using more tricks than she knew. Tori knew that her only chance to get in was to distract him. With her left hand, she slowly proceeded to a dagger from her sleeve but she did it carefully so Barbossa wouldn't notice.
She finally succeeded in freeing it. She hid it in her hand until the opportune moment. Then she let Barbossa back up until she was a couple feet from the broken railing where Nick had fallen.
"Ready ta die, Sparrow?"
He leered at her.
"Not yet."
Tori threw the dagger as fast as she could, not bothering to take careful aim.
"What the....."
Barbossa didn't see it until it buried itself in his huge hat. His hand automatically went to his head and he snarled. "That's me good hat!"
While he had done that, Tori had leapt behind him so that when he turned, he had his back to the railing and she was on the side with advantaged. Barbossa cursed as Tori attacked, trying to be as fast as he had been.
He wasn't as fast with his parries but he was faster than was comfortable. Tori managed to hold her attack for a few minutes but only drove him back about an inch. Then Barbossa cut in. He drove her back towards the other side of the deck.
Tori had a sudden idea. She knew she wouldn't be able to beat him in a fair fight. He was too good. But pirates never fought fair. If she could spring this trick, she could finish him off once and for all.
She parried very badly on purpose. He sneered and quickly hit again on that side. She moved away so quickly that he almost lost his balance from hitting thin air. Then she quickly grabbed a rope and swung onto the middle deck.
"What the bloody 'ell? Come back here, ya cowardous dog."
He grabbed another rope and swung after her. She had already landed and the pirates had scattered where she hit. They backed off even more when Barbossa landed behind her. Most of them stopped their fight to watch. Before Barbossa attacked, Tori lunged and then turned and ran after he parried.
She knew she had really confused Barbossa now. He thought that Sparrows weren't cowards and she was giving him the opposite impression. That was good. She heard him following him. She looked up. The mast was straight in front of her. Perfect. Grabbing a piece of rigging, she began to climb, praying that Barbossa would come after her.
"Bloody wench!"
He was after her. For someone bigger than her, he was faster than she expected but she had a head start so it wasn't likely that he would catch up to her while she was still climbing. "Ya'll pay fer this, Sparrow!"
"I highly doubt that."
Tori had reached the top. As Barbossa looked up, her sword slashed through the ropes holding a sail. It went crashing down unto Barbossa. He gave one last scream before tumbling down onto the deck along with the sail.
Tori quickly climbed down and leant over the mass of sail. No-one spoke. She untangled it and found her enemy, his face chalk white. "If ya live, answer me," Tori growled.
There was a slight movement in Barbossa's body and then he went still. Tori put her fingers to his wrist. There was no pulse. "He's dead."
She heard a clanking as the Shadow's crew began dropping their weapons. Only one pair was still engaged in battle: Anamaria and the black man. They didn't seem to realize that they were the only ones fighting. As everyone watched, Ana ducked under the man's arm as he attacked and slashed his chest with her sword. He crumpled.
Those of the Shadow's crew that hadn't already dropped their weapons, did so then. "Well, I'm feelin' rather good about this situation."
Jack strode, jauntily out in front of the defeated crew. He happily threw all the weapons over the side of the ship. "Any of ya scurvy dogs got any rum?" he asked.
When none of them replied, he approached one sailor. "Ya, Sailor. 'Ave ya got any rum on ya?"
The pirate gave him a surly look and handed him a flask. Jack downed it in one gulp. "That's better. Many thanks."
He gave an exaggerated bow to the pirate who glared at him even harder. "Where's Nick?" Elizabeth had come forwards, followed by Will, "I lost him in the flow of battle."
Tori swallowed. How could she tell them? Elizabeth, Will, and even Jack were looking at her expectantly. "He.... he tried to fight Barbossa."
Elizabeth gave a small scream. Her hand quickly covered her mouth. She glanced at Will. He had gone very pale. "Where is..... where is his.... body?"
He had tried to keep his voice from cracking but failed miserably. Silent tears were running down Elizabeth's face. "He drowned. The railing gave in and he fell."
She looked down. This was so painful. And now he would never know she had loved him. He thought she had chosen Reph over him. She hadn't. Wouldn't. She should have never listened to Reph. She had made the wrong decision and it was too late now. Nick had saved her life and she had been incapable of saving his.
"At least Barbossa didn't 'ave the satisfaction of killin' him outright."
Jack's gleeful face was gone. It was replaced with a darkened expression of worry. He looked at Elizabeth who was in Will's arms, crying, and Will's depressed face.
"What's goin' on?"
Anamaria was wiping blood off her sword, causally. She looked at Elizabeth and Will and raised her eyebrows.
"Their son.....err..... died."
Jack almost whispered it, not wanting the Turners to hear.
"I'm sorry," Ana said coolly.
Tori knew that she didn't have that much feeling about it. She didn't know Nick and she was only acting sorry for Elizabeth and Will's sake.
"Five. I killed five men. Can ya believe that?"
Tori turned around to see Reph. She was so tempted to sock him in the face right then for that crazy look of triumph and pride but the fact that Jack was there kept her from doing it.
"Yer a true pirate."
Jack clapped him on the back. "Although sometimes it's better not to be so... uh.... boastful about those things."
"Alright, Capt'."
Jack cast one last look at Will and Elizabeth. They had gone up to the upper deck to look at the railing where Nick had fallen. However, the victory was first in Jack's mind.
"Tori that was one of the best tricks I've ever seen. I must remember ta use it more often. Alright everyone. How many men did we loose?"
"Nine," came the answer, "And Gibbs is wounded."
"I'm fine!"
Gibbs limped into deck in front of Jack, holding a cloth to his bleeding leg.
"Let 'em fix ya up, Gibbs," Jack told him, glancing at the cut, "So they had far heavier losses."
He looked at the group of the Shadow's crew.
"ALL MEN BACK TO THE..... err.... what's 'er name?"
He received an answer from one of the men standing closest to him.
"Okay. Let me try that again. ALL MEN BACK TO THE GREY HAWK! TIE UP THE PRISONERS! BRING UP THE ANCHOR! HOIST THE SAILS! BRING 'ER BACK INTO TORTUGA!"
The crew all swung to the Grey Hawk. They moved a plank across to the Shadow for the prisoners to be pushed across and for Gibbs. Will and Elizabeth finally came away from the railing, both tight-lipped and white- faced. They came unto the Grey Hawk, as well. Jack quickly took a place behind the tiller. He looked at his crew and then at the Shadow. "Blow 'er up," were his only words.
They quickly loaded the cannons. Shot after shot was fired at it. The last of it that anyone saw was it disappearing beneath the waves, still smoking. Tori saw this. She had bit her lip so hard that it was bleeding. Against her will, tears filled her eyes.
"That was one of the greatest victories ever. Wasn't it?"
She didn't look at Reph. Her teeth were gritted together.
"Tor?"
The tears fell. Turning quickly, she pushed past him and ran down to her cabin. Hearing his footsteps coming after her, she quickly locked the door.
"Tori? Why are ya actin' like this? Won't ya talk ta me?"
"Go away," she sobbed, throwing herself down on her bed.
"What's wrong?"
"Reph, if ya don't leave me alone I'll gut ya with a dagger."
"ALRIGHT!"
She heard his footsteps, leaving. Only then did she allow herself to cry as hard as she had wanted to.
***
The Grey Hawk harbored came into Tortuga's harbor several hours later. As the owner was probably still looking for it, it was docked farther out. It would be returned to the center of the harbor during the night while no one was looking.
Most of the crew left the ship for a tavern. Most were celebrating the victory while mourning those lost at the same time. Tori had locked herself in her room and refused to come out. No one had really noticed besides Reph as Jack was in the center of things as always and Anamaria was probably with him. A few times she had held a dagger in her hand, feeling the cold, hard metal beneath her palms. She had considered thrusting it into herself but that each time she had ended up dropping it in disgust. She didn't want to die.
She had tried to sleep but Nick's face kept coming to her, plaguing her. It refused to leave her alone. Finally, after awhile Tori got up and looked around. She could hear shouts and laughter from the alleyways of Tortuga. These people so easily forgot all their troubles....
She decided to go to the tavern. Drowning herself in rum would let her escape from the pain for a few hours. It was what Jack would do.
Will and Elizabeth were nowhere to be seen as she left the Grey Hawk. At least they had each other to console but no one even knew she had loved Nick. She was all alone.
The tavern was filled with people. A few of the crew nodded to her and congratulated her on her fight. Their compliments passed deaf ears. The words just slid past her as she ordered a rum and brought it to one of the back tables.
By her fifth, Tori began to feel the effects. She started to feel relaxed. She was just about to drink a sixth, when and hand pulled it away from her. "Don't you think you've had enough, yet?"
"What the bloody 'ell?"
Her speech was slurred. She looked up and groaned. She had drunken so much that she was seeing images of Nick. Two of them, in fact. So much for the rum to ease her agony.
"I said, Don't you think you've had enough? There's really no reason for you to drown yourself in rum. You won."
"Why do these images have to plague me?" she waved her hand, trying to get it to go away, "It doesn't matter that I won, anyway. Nick died."
As soon as someone saw that she was talking to herself, they were going to make her stop drinking. She wanted the image to leave.
"Tori!" he caught her arm, "Stop. If I were dead, then I wouldn't be here right now."
She stared. The hand on her arm felt real. Images didn't feel real. She looked up at the face the was blurring. It looked too real. This was the worst image she had ever had.
"I'm real. I'm not an figment of your imagination."
His hand cupped under her chin and forced her to look at him. There was no way that could be imaginary...
"It's not possible...." she croaked, "I'm not dead, am I?"
"I highly doubt that."
For a minute everything slid back into focus and her brain cleared. All she saw was Nick looking down at her, hand still on her cheek.
"I've got to be dreamin'."
But if this was a dream she didn't want it to stop. She threw her arms around him. Everything blurred again but she felt his arms holding her steadily. She cried then: unto his shoulder. Some act of god was giving her this dream. Maybe it would last a little longer. Just a little..... her head spun again and she passed out.
***
Again, there's no excuse for not writing in so long but I am sorry.