A/N: Wow you guys actually liked my other chapter. You're just probably saying all that to be nice…lol. Just kidding, thanks very much for the reviews. I loved them. Maybe I should stop replying to them though; it's taking up a lot of room…oh well. I'll keep replying because I like my reviews to have a reply.
pghal6: Yeah, it's about time the stupid hot pirate actually recognized his emotions. Not sure he understands them though. Maybe I made him understand them too well in the last chapter. Eh, all hell will break loose soon, maybe, as long as everything goes to plan. Oh, and about this sequel you asked about, I have no comment, lol. Perfect answer right? No really, I really don't know, it only depends on how this story ends up.
nicole: I'll try my best to make this a long chapter. This is one of the most important parts of the movie so it should be a long chapter. I can't let myself be lazy anymore. The only reason the last chapter was short was because I only wanted it to be the lingering/waiting time before they reach the Isle de Muerta and there's really only so long I can ramble about Anna and Will's feelings before people get bored and start throwing stuff at me, lol.
American Drama: Favorite chapter eh? Wasn't mine but hey, if it's yours, I'm happy. Yeah, I was really depressed after writing that chapter for some reason. But, hey, finally figuring out you love someone less than a day before that certain someone dies is pretty depressing if you ask me.
Mystisch: Thanks for the complement! Actually I should be also thanking my awesome writing teacher too because if it wasn't for her, my stories would be crap, lol. I'm glad you like my story.
Forensic Photographer711: Don't worry! I won't forget about Lizzy! She'll pop in outta nowhere soon enough, lol. Sorry, I don't like clichés unless they're there purposely for a joke, lol. I most likely won't make Elizabeth end up with Jack unless I can't think of anything else, which I highly doubt. It's ok, I'm a loser too, lol.
poptart-angel: Thank you.
somegrl28: Oh he will eventually, it all really depends on what he wants to believe. And remember, he's a stupid, hot pirate so he might not make the best decision on a lot of things…yet. lol. Thanks for the review!
obliviongates: Well at least you liked how I ended that chapter, lol. I'm sorry it reminds you of your story. I try my hardest not to make it sound like yours but I can't really help it sometimes. Your last chapters didn't suck. I love professional sounding reviews! It makes my writing sound like its worth more than just a "nice story." Thanks so much. Oh, and you're pure evil, I hope you know that. Hurry up with this surprise now before I kill you.
Elizabeth: I'm trying my best to make the chapters longer, lol. Thanks for the review. Glad you like my story!
Disclaimer: I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean. I only own Anna Wilson and any other characters you do not recognize.
Chapter Twelve: The Curse is Lifted
The chanting of the pirates had stopped. Barbossa's eyes widened in fear and shock. Will, who had been leaning over the chest of Aztec gold, stood up straight in shock. Anna looked over to the side where everyone's gazes were directed. There stood Jack Sparrow.
"Jack!" Will said not believing his own eyes.
"S'not possible," Barbossa said, still in shock.
"Not probable!" Jack corrected and moved up through the crowd of pirates in front of the bo'sun.
Will's eyes grew with worry. If Jack got off the island, Elizabeth had to also. "Where's Elizabeth?" he asked.
Jack smiled. "She's safe, just like I promised. She's all set to marry Norrington like she promised, and you get to die for her like you promised. So we're all men of our word really, except for Elizabeth who is, in fact, a woman."
Will glared down at Jack. Anna stared at Jack disbelievingly. 'How could she pick Norrington over Will?' she thought to herself.
"Shut up! You're next!" Barbossa yelled pointing his knife at Jack. He pushed Will so he was leaning over the chest once again. He raised his knife to Will's neck, ready to slit his throat. Anna looked away and squeezed her eyes shut.
"You don't want to be doin' that, mate," Jack said, interrupting Barbossa.
"No, I really think I do," Barbossa sneered at Jack.
"Your funeral," Jack said, having to get the last word in. Barbossa rolled his eyes and stood up, irritated with Jack.
"Why don't I want to be doing it?" Barbossa asked glaring at Jack who smiled and began walking forward.
"Well, because…" Jack began. He was being held back by a pirate. He turned and slapped his hand off his shoulder. "Because the H.M.S. Dauntless, pride of the Royal Navy, is floating just off shore, waiting for you," he finished pointing off randomly as if at the ship.
The pirates started panicking and looked to Barbossa for answers. They were stuck. Jack's smile widened. They had fallen into his trap. He walked up the giant pile of gold that the cursed chest sat on.
"But I know how you can get away," Jack said smiling sneakily.
Anna still stood among the pirates. She looked up to Jack trying to read what was going on in his head. She looked over at Will who narrowed his eyes at Jack, obviously doing the same she had just a minute ago. Barbossa looked up at Jack skeptically.
"Do ye really think I'm going to trust ye?" Barbossa asked folding his arms.
"Just hear me out, mate. You order your men to row out to the Dauntless. They do what they do best. Robert's your uncle, Fannie's your aunt, there you are with two ships, the makings of your very own fleet," Jack said sounding very convincing. "Of course you will take the grandest as your flagship and who's to argue? But what of the Pearl? Name me captain, I'll sail under your colors. I'll give you ten percent of me plunder and you get to introduce yourself as Commodore Barbossa, savvy?" Jack smiled widely.
Anna looked away from Barbossa. She smiled too, knowing exactly what Jack was up to. 'Anything to get your ship back, eh?' she thought smiling.
"I s'pose in exchange you want me not to kill the whelp?" Barbossa asked turning his head sharply towards Will.
"No, no, not at all, by all means, kill the whelp. Just not yet," Jack's voice changed. It grew slower and had a mystical tone to it. "Wait to lift the curse until the opportune moment."
Anna's smile widened as she noticed Will realizing what Jack was up to.
"For instance," Jack started again picking up four medallions from the chest. "After you've killed Norrington's men, every…last…one…" he said dropping three back into the chest. He sneakily pocketed one of the coins.
"You've been planning this from the beginning, ever since you learned my name!" Will said playing along with Jack.
"Yeah," Jack said sounding like he didn't care whether Will died or not.
Barbossa thought for a moment and broke the silence. "I want fifty percent of yer plunder," he said.
"Fifteen," Jack insisted.
"Forty," Barbossa shot back.
"Twenty-five!" Jack said, "and I'll buy you the hat, a really big one…commodore."
Barbossa pondered Jack's offer for a second. "We have an accord!" he said and shook hands with Jack.
Jack turned away and faced the pirates. "All hands to the boats!" he ordered. Everyone stayed in their places. "Apologies, you give the orders," Jack quickly said and bowed slightly to Barbossa.
"Gents, take a walk!" Barbossa ordered. The pirates laughed and turned to walk out. Only four of them stayed behind, including the one holding Anna's arm.
"Not to the boats?" Jack asked worriedly as his plan began to fall apart in front of him. Barbossa turned and smiled evilly at Jack.
……………………
They caves were dark now. The torches the pirates once held had gone out. Only moonlight coming through cracks in the ceiling of the cave illuminated it. Barbossa sat at the bottom of the mountain of gold that lead up to the cursed gold. Will and Anna were being held in place by the other pirates. Jack wandered the cave looking at all the plunder.
"I'm sorry Will," Anna whispered.
Will looked up at her and smiled slightly. His eyes, though, were filled with pain.
"She did what she had to do," Will said weakly.
Anna's heart twisted in pain. She looked away from Will.
"I have to admit, Jack, I thought I had ye figured. But it turns out, you're a hard man to predict," Barbossa said. Jack turned and walked towards Barbossa and tossed a gold statue to the side.
"Me? I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest, honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly…stupid," Jack said.
Will looked up at Jack nervously. That was a cue. Anna gave Jack a questioning look. He returned it by pulling a sword out of a pirate's sheath and kicking him into the water. He threw the sword to Will who amazingly caught it with his hands tied. Barbossa stood up suddenly and pulled his sword out and ran after Jack.
One of the pirates chased after Will. As the sword was ready to come down and hit Will, he turned around and it cut the rope that tied his hands together. He pulled his arms forward and fought with the pirate.
"Will!" Anna shouted, still standing still with her hands bound. Will turned and quickly cut the rope.
"Thanks," Anna said quickly and picked up a sword a pirate had dropped a while back. She followed after Will who was being attacked by three pirates at once. Jack and Barbossa passed by quickly.
"Yer off the edge of the map, mate. Here there be monsters!" Barbossa said chasing after Jack.
Anna and Will fought off the pirates as best they could. There was only so long one could survive while fighting with someone who couldn't die. Anna tried parrying every blow thrown at her. She was growing tired and wasn't quick enough to block one of the stabs made at her. A cut formed on her right cheek from the corner of her lip to her ear. She wiped the blood away with the back of her hand, turning her head to Barbossa and Jack. Jack was on the ground and Barbossa was smiling triumphantly.
"You can't beat me, Jack," Barbossa said throwing his sword aside.
Jack stood up suddenly and stabbed Barbossa. He sighed and pulled the sword out. In a split second, the sword was in Jack's chest. Anna jumped back suddenly at the thought of Jack actually losing. Jack backed up into the moonlight and changed into the skeletal form.
"That's interesting," Jack said examining his hand. He then pulled out the medallion he kept from the chest. "I couldn't resist, mate," he said smiling at Barbossa, who began chasing after Jack again.
Anna turned just as a pirate charged after her. She raised her sword as a new rush of adrenaline surged through her. She parried every blow and made her way towards Will where she knew he could keep her from getting hurt.
Jack and Barbossa fought on. They came out in the open and to the chest. Barbossa sat down again as his chest heaved. "So what now, Jack Sparrow? Will it be two immortals locked in an epic battle until Judgment Day and trumpets sound, hmm?" Barbossa said annoyed with having to fight with Jack.
"Or you could surrender," Jack said as Barbossa lurched at him once again putting them both into another spout of fighting.
Anna saw Will getting tired and tried as best she could to watch his back as he watched hers. He was suddenly disarmed and knocked to the ground. A pirate chased after him and pointed his sword at him.
"I'm gonna teach you the meaning of pain!" the pirate shouted but was cut off.
"You like pain?" a voice sounded and Elizabeth came after the pirate with a golden pole of some sort. She hit the pirate across the head with it. "Try wearing a corset," she said glaring at the pirate lying on the ground. She looked at Will and gave him one end of the pole. He grabbed it and Elizabeth helped him up.
They gazed at each other for a split second but were distracted by Barbossa and Jack fighting. Elizabeth saw that Jack was also cursed.
"Who's side is Jack on?" she asked.
"At the moment?" Will replied smiling amusedly.
Elizabeth ran away from Will and over to Anna who was surrounded by the three pirates.
"Elizabeth?" Anna said as Elizabeth hit a pirate over the head.
"Hello Anna," she replied. Elizabeth threw the pole over to Will. He hit two of the pirates over the head and they were soon lined up. The three of them grabbed hold of the pole and drove it through the pirates. They tried to pull it out but to no avail.
Will ran over to the side and lit a grenade. He smiled and put it in the rib cage of the pirate in the middle. They pushed them back into the shadow from the moonlight. The pirate tried desperately to get the grenade out.
"No fair," the pirate said.
Will, Anna, and Elizabeth ran away as fast as they could. The grenade exploded. Will ran up to the cursed chest, picked up Barbossa's knife and cut his hand. Jack and Barbossa's fight moved its way over to them. Jack took out his knife and cut his hand and let it bleed on the medallion. He threw it up to Will who held the two medallions over the chest. Barbossa took out his gun and aimed it at Anna and Elizabeth. A shot fired.
Barbossa turned to Jack whose pistol was smoking.
"Ten years you carry that pistol and now you waste your shot," Barbossa mocked. Jack smiled.
"He didn't waste it!" Will shouted heroically.
Barbossa turned and watched as Will dropped the medallions into the chest. Barbossa's eyes widened. He dropped his sword and opened his jacket revealing a bullet hole in his white shirt. Blood flowed out of it freely. Jack finally lowered his pistol.
"I feel…" Barbossa said painfully and pausing, "cold."
His eyes glazed over and he fell back onto the gold. An apple that was in his hand fell out and rolled down the pile into the water and floated away. Everyone still in the cave seemed to let out a sigh of relief.
"Well, now that that's all taken care of…" Jack said walking away to a pile of gold and started sifting through it.
Will hopped down from the small hill of gold. Elizabeth had walked away, not ready to face Will yet.
"Commodore Norrington's a very lucky man," Will said distantly, gazing at Elizabeth who stood near another pile of gold.
Anna looked up at him. His eyes were tired and sad. She didn't know what to say. She looked back down at her feet.
"Will…" she started to say and looked up to see no one there. She found Will next to Elizabeth.
"We should return to the Dauntless," Elizabeth said quietly. She couldn't bear to look into Will's eyes.
"You're fiancé will be wanting to know you're safe," Will said just above a whisper. His heart twisted in pain at the word fiancé.
Elizabeth tried to smile but she was on the verge of tears. She turned and walked out of the cave to the boat that would take her back to the ship where her fiancé awaited his bride.
Jack swaggered over to Will with a gold crown on his head and gold in each of his arms looking very triumphant. "If you were waiting for the opportune moment, that was it," Jack informed Will pointing at Elizabeth. "Now if you'd be so kind I'd be much obliged if you'd drop me off my ship."
Jack swaggered away following Elizabeth. Will stayed in his place. He didn't want to move. He didn't want to see Elizabeth for he knew his heart would twist and lurch in pain at the sight of her. He wanted time to go backwards so none of this would have happened. He wanted to go back to when Elizabeth was still free.
Anna saw the pained look in Will's eyes. She walked up behind him and placed her hand on his arm, waking him from his dreamlike state.
"Come on, Will," Anna said softly and nudged his arm slightly.
He nodded but didn't move.
"It's going to be okay," she assured softly.
She gently guided him to the boat until his senses cleared. Elizabeth sat in the back of the boat. Jack was in the front, looking as proud as ever. Will helped Anna in, sat down and began rowing away from the cursed Aztec gold. A weight seemed to be lifted off everyone's shoulders as the burden of the curse left their minds.
"What took ye so long, mate?" Jack asked as they finally made their way out of the caves. "My ship's waitin'."
Elizabeth sighed. Everyone turned to her. "Jack, about your ship," she started nervously.
"What about me ship?" Jack said looking at Elizabeth worriedly.
"It's just that…well…they decided to keep to the code," Elizabeth said looking down.
Jack turned forward again. His ship was gone. He would have to go back to the Dauntless and face bloody Norrington, most likely get arrested, and get hanged as Anamaria, Gibbs and the rest of the crew sailed away in his home.
They were out in the open again. The caves of the Isle de Muerta were far behind them.
"I'm sorry, Jack," Elizabeth said quietly.
Jack stayed facing forward. "They've done what's right by them, can't expect more than that," he replied, all happiness gone from his voice.
They rode the rest of the way to the Dauntless in silence. No one dared to speak in fear of either losing control themselves, or causing someone else to lose control. Anna looked at Will who rowed the boat slowly to the ship. He was available now. She could have him if she wanted to. But she knew that she would forever live in Elizabeth's shadow. She would sit everyday watching as Will would think about Elizabeth. No, that would be just as bad as cage high class begged to lock her in. She would have to think about Will everyday for the rest of her life, as Will thought about Elizabeth.
Elizabeth's heart constantly lurched inside her. She hated what she was doing to Will. She broke his heart. 'It's all for the best. I am the governor's daughter. I must accept my duties in life, which includes being wed to a man of high stature that I don't love. There's no such thing as love in my position, only power and money,' she thought to herself. All of her dreams of breaking down the boundaries set by society came crashing down on top of her.
A/N: lol. I stole some stuff from the writers' commentary on Pirates of the Caribbean. If you haven't watched it, I'm sorry if you don't understand what I'm talking about. Eh…depressing end to a chapter, I'm sorry. I tried to make it longer, but I had to write it in intervals. One part before I went skating, one part between skating and church, and one part after company came for dinner so if it sounds choppy, that's why. Please review!
