Okay, I know I haven't updated in ages and ages and ages but my computer's been down! I've had to get a new hard drive and everything because Kazaa had given us 2000 viruses despite using virus scans (so let that be a warning to you all!)
Anyhoo, I'm back now and hopefully I'll get this story finished within the next few weeks! Then it's on to Emotionless (In the Van Helsing category if any of you fancy a read) and Pippa's story.I have sooo many ideas for FF's but I never seem to keep up with them! I have plans for an Assassins one, a From Hell one and Bootstrap's story as well!
Disclaimer: Stupid Mouse still owns it. Hmmph.
Well here we go!
Chapter 11
Bright light. Brighter than anything Jack had ever seen before. It was at the end of a long dark tunnel. And there was a voice. The voice of an angel calling him towards the light.
"Jack, Jack..." She called
Jack stood up, wobblier than usual, paused a moment to regain some of his balance and headed cautiously towards the light. He unsheathed his sword and walked closer.
"Jack..."
The angel was coming into view now. She had stepped in front of the light. It was Meg. She was wearing a long, billowing white dress and her hair was cascading in soft curls around her shoulders. Her eyes seemed unusually blue and she had a welcoming smile on her face.
"Come to me Jack..." She called, holding a hand out for him to take.
Jack sheathed his sword again and held his hand out for Meg to take. Their fingers were almost touching when Jack suddenly felt a rush of water over his head. He pulled his hand back to shield himself from the rushing water and as he did so he saw the light and Meg fading away into the distance.
"Meg!"
The scene was quickly replaced by reality. The brig of 'The Interceptor II' and Bootstrap looking down on him with a bucket of water in his hand. He held out a hand for Jack – who took it – and pulled him to his feet. Jack held up his soggy arms: "Ye wet me."
"I'm sorry." Bootstrap said.
"No, ye're not." Jack said.
Bootstrap shrugged with a mischeivous smile upon his face.
Jack rolled his eyes before taking a quick look around the brig. In the two cells opposite Jack and Bootstrap were the two crews – 'The Pearl' and 'The Rose'. The cells were too small for them and they looked very uncomfortable. Jack suddenly noticed that the crew of 'The Rose' were one short.
"Someone's missing." He noted.
"William." Bootstrap explained, "The good Commodore took him to his quarters..."
"Did he now?" Jack smiled, "He'll get a shock when he finds out the whelp's a eunuch."
He suddenly remembered who he was talking to, "And by the whelp, I, I mean Norrington...oh, not that young William's that way inclined...I just..."
He saw Bootstrap's face and decided that he should just stop talking: "Ye, ye were saying?"
Bootstrap shook his head and carried on with what he was saying: "Commodore Norrington took him to his private quarters to discuss private matters."
"What private matters?" Jack asked.
"He didn't say, hence the private part."
Jack thought for a moment. What could Norrington want with Will? Will stayed inside the law... most of the time. He wasn't involved in piracy... often. He hadn't stolen anything... recently. Jack's face suddenly lit up with realization.
"Pippa!"
Bootstrap looked at Jack in confusion.
"Pippa is Will's lass." Jack explained, "Or she was. Will and Norrington both fell for the same girl. Will didn't want Norrington to have her so he pretended that she was dead."
"Uh, Jack." Bootstrap started gesturing for his friend to look behind him.
"Do ye think he's found out that Pippa's alive?" Jack asked.
"I think there's a fair chance." Bootstrap said, turning Jack around to face...
"Commodore Norrington!" Jack said, half in surprise, half by way of greeting. He threw his arms in the air, 'unintentionally' covering the Commodore in the water that flew off his wet sleeves. Norrington moved back a step.
"Jack Sparrow." Norrington said.
Jack opened his mouth to correct the Commodore but Norrington got there first.
"I'm sorry, Captain Jack Sparrow." Norrington corrected himself.
Jack nodded: "It's been a while, hasn't it? As I remember it, last time I saw ye, ye were weeping over Pippa on my ship."
Bootstrap tried to surpress a smile as he imagined the Commodore crying.
"How are ye dealin' with that?" Jack asked.
The Commodore ignored Jack's question: "Mr Sparrow, are you aware of why you're here?"
"Coz ye were missing me?" Jack suggested.
"No, Mr Sparrow." Norrington sounded disgusted at the accusation, "No Mr Sparrow, you are here because I have finally found a way to keep hold of you."
"And how would that be?" Jack asked.
Norrington began to smile, Jack knew that when Norrington smiled he was up to no good.
"I've managed to make the aquaintance of a very helpful old lady with a very unusual talent. You see, if you try to break out of this cell you will be killed instantly."
Jack raised an eyebrow. He didn't believe a word of it.
"I can see you don't believe me." Norrington said, "Well, let's try it shall we?"
Norrington scanned the cell opposite Jack and Bootstrap for a fitting test subject. He settled on a young latin crew member. Jack recognised him as Lorenzo. The young man who had led Jack to meet Bootstrap when he had first arrived on the Rose. Despite still believing that Norrington was bluffing, Jack wasn't willing to take any chances.
"Okay, I believe ye. Ye don't need to demonstrate." Jack shouted.
"Oh, no, no. I think I do." Norrington insisted. He opened the door to Lorenzo's cell and dragged him to the front of it.
Norrington ordered Lorenzo to leave the cell.
Lorenzo stood up proud: "I take orders from nobody."
Norrington rolled his eyes: "Fine, have it your way."
He reached into the cell and pulled Lorenzo out. Norrington let go of him and stepped back. Everyone's attention turned to Lorenzo, who was stood shaking in the middle of the room. He began shaking more violently before dropping to his knees, holding his head. He began to sweat and scream as his skin began to peel away from his body, revealing red muscles which in turn began to melt. Lorenzo's screams grew louder as his newly revealed skeleton began to crumble away into dust. What was left of Lorenzo melted away into a small puddle.
The crew members nearest the still open door of the cell shrunk back as far as they could. A few began to vomit. Jack and Bootstrap stood staring at the spot where Lorenzo had been, mouths open in disbelief. Bootstrap was the first to react. He withdrew his sword from it's sheath and pointed it straight at Norrington's neck.
"Murderer!" He snarled, forcing the sword as far through the bars as it would go.
Norrington simply laughed: "You can't hurt me Turner."
"I wouldn't be so sure." Bootstrap said, evilly, "I've killed better men than you have with less effort."
"I doubt that." Norrington said with a smug smile.
Bootstrap grunted and pulled his sword back through the bars.
"Death's too good for him." Jack said, laying a reassuring hand on Bootstrap's shoulder.
"You're right."
Norrington smiled, "Well if we're finished here then I will leave you to reflect on the helplessness of your situation."
Norrington began to walk away before bootstrap called after him: "Not so fast! What have you done with my son?"
Norrington turned around: "Young William is in perfectly safe hands."
He smiled smugly before leaving the brig.
"Thinks the sun shines out of his arse, that one does." Jack commented.
"He's a naval officer, what do you expect?" One of the crewmembers added.
Bootstrap had gone into the corner of the cell and was sat on a barrell.
Jack walked over to him, "He'll be fine, Will can handle himself."
"There's nothing Norrington would like more than to see him strung up with the rest of us." Bootstrap said.
"Will hasn't done anything worthy of the gallows though." Jack said, "Norrington may be a lonely, sad, inhumane eunuch but he wouldn't kill an innocent man."
"I wouldn't bet on that." Bootstrap said.
NORRINGTON'S QUARTERS
Will was sat in Norrington's quarters (obviously!), waiting for the Commodore to come back from the brig. He was thinking about what the hell Norrington could want with him. He didn't have to wait long as Norrington entered the room almost as soon as Will had begun plotting ways out.
"Mr Turner." Norrington said by way of greeting.
"Commodore." Will replied.
"I suppose you're wondering why you're here."
Okay, he's making me slightly uncomfortable – he sounds like he's about to propose, Will thought.
"I'd been hearing rumours about Pippa." Norrington said, jumping straight in to the point, "And whilst I was down in the brig, discussing matters with your father and Mr. Sparrow. I found out that she is in fact, still alive."
"Still alive?" Will tried to sound shocked but acting had never been his strong point and Norrington just laughed.
"And that you had lied to me in order to save her from a life of luxury." Norrington said.
"I only did it because I love her!" Will said, heroically.
"You loved her so much that you pretended she was dead and left her?" Norrington taunted.
Will opened his mouth to speak before Norrington butted in.
"Anyway, I am not interested in the way you treat your conquests." Norrington said, "No, I am interested in making you a deal."
"What kind of deal?" Will asked.
"I am willing to release your father and the other captives." Norrington explained, "They will be free to live thier lives with no worries about me or my men pursuing them."
It sounds too good to be true, Will thought, And considering it's a deal being made by Norrington – it probably is.
"All I ask for in return, is the whereabouts of Miss Halliwell." Norrington continued.
Knew it, Will thought.
"I'm afraid I don't know." Will said.
It was technically the truth. Will didn't know where 'The Black Pearl' was. After they'd been captured, everybody had been knocked out and taken below deck, except Will. He'd been left in a spare room and collected by Gillette when Norrington had called for him.
"I'm afraid, Mr Turner, that isn't the reply I was looking for." Norrington said, "You leave me no choice, but to kill you all."
That sounds ominous! Will thought.
"Gillette." Norrington called.
The door opened and Gillette's head popped round the door: "Yes, sir?"
"Take Mr Turner back down to the brig."
"Yes, sir."
Will had to resist the urge to slap Gillette, which wasn't very easy, as he was pused roughly down to the brig. As they approached the cell Gillette began to mutter some words in a strange language that Will didn't recognise. The door to Jack and Bootstrap's cell crackled with blue energy then swung open. Gillette pushed Will in. Will turned round ready to run out and attack him but Bootstrap held him back and Gillette pushed the door shut.
"What did you do that for? I could have killed him." Will said, turning to Bootstrap.
"You would have died!" Bootstrap said.
"He was unarmed."
"He doesn't need to be armed." Jack said, "Norrington's put some kind of voodoo curse on the cells."
"What?" Will asked.
"Ye see that puddle down there?" Jack said, pointing.
"Yes."
"That's Lorenzo."
Will covered his mouth. He'd stepped in Lorenzo when Gillette had been pushing him: "What happened?"
"Norrington pulled him out of the cell and he melted." Bootstrap explained, "And if we leave the cell then the same thing will happen hence the lack of leaving!"
"Oh."
"Anyway, what did ice-cream head want with ye?" Jack asked.
"Um..." Will started, "He said that we could all go free."
Jack and Bootstrap's face's lit up: "Free?"
"Uh-huh, but I, um, I had to give up Pippa's whereabouts." Will explained.
"So, I take it that we're still getting hung then?" Jack asked.
"I couldn't let him take Pippa!" Will replied.
"Oh but you can let him hang your father and your friends?" Bootstrap snapped.
"We can get away!" Will said.
"And how exactly do you propose we do that?" Bootstrap asked, "Leaving this cell will kill us, we're due to be hung almost as soon as we arrive in Port Royal! Where's the window of oppurtunity there Will?"
He began to complain in Spanish, wandering round the cell talking to the barrells about how stupid his son could be.
Jack turned to Will, "Look, mate, I know ye love this girl buit we aren't much use to her dead, are we?"
"What would you do if you were in my position and Meg was the one Norrington was after?" Will asked.
Jack opened his mouth to speak but then began to think. Would he give up the only woman he'd ever cared about in order to save all his friends? Would he be able to let her go even if there was a chance he could save her? Would he be able to see her with someone else? Or would he go crazy? The more he thought about it, the more he understood Will's decision.
"Stupido!" Bootstrap kicked a barrell.
Jack shook his head and turned to Will: "Don't worry, son, we'll figure something out."
Halle-freaking-lujah! I did it! I finished Chapter 11! After about 2 weeks of working on it! Anyhoo...hope you enjoyed that! I bloody well didn't! Took forever! Is anyone slightly pissed at not being able to mark off the ends of thier chapters and stuff? It's so annoying!
Anyhoo #2: Next chapter coming soon – which will include a bit of Meg, Pippa and Serenity! Promise! I just fancied having a go at a chapter using the existing characters!
Anyhoo #3: My beta-reader is going on holiday – how bloody inconvenient! So, I might not update for about 2 weeks! Just to warn you now!
Anyhoo #4: OMG, you have to see Shrek 2! It's hilarious! Puss In Boots kicks ass and my God his voice is sooooooooo sexy!
Anyhoo #5: I bet these are pissing you off now! Hee hee! Okay, um, R&R people! I want my inbox flooded with shiny good reviews!
TTFN!