Disclaimer: No, I don't own PotC, just my own characters and this story. Yes, Disney, there might be some quotes in here from your movie, but I didn't make them up, your awesome writers did, ok? I won't steal your stuff if you don't steal mine (unless you pay me a hefty sum i.e. )

Note: Hi everyone! Sorry this took so long, but honestly, I seriously have been super busy. In fact, I should be writing my Tale of Two Cities essay instead of this right now so...read, review, and enjoy! Oh, and now I'm using APL4H as pov/line/time breaks, since my word processor doesn't read too well.

CHAPTER 7 - The Battle

"Load the guns, Men," Commedore Norrigton directed to his navy. The pearl was straight across from the dauntless about twenty-five yards. The men of each ship were in shouting distance. Of course, the pearl had already fired twice at them, damaging the central mast only slightly. The Dauntless was getting ready to respond. But enough was enough, the Commodore had only thought. Jonathan stood with him, overseeing.

"You know, Commedore," Jonathan coaxed. "I really don't like all this cannon fire, after all, I don't want my pretty ship which the Commonwealth just spent so much money on to get too battered up, don't you think? Can't we negotiate?"

"We need to do what needs to be done," Norrington replied sternly.

"Well, I don't want my daughter killed now, do I?" Jonathan shouted back.

"No, we don't want that, either," Norrington commented, staring into the murky blue before him. "Fine, we'll compromise with the scoundrels, and if they don't see it our way, we will take her by force."

"What kind of force are you suggesting?" Jonathan asked.

"Very simple. My men know what to do. Now, Mr. Carlynton, this may be too much for you to take. I suggest you baracade yourself in my office," Norrington stated forcefuly. For once, Jonathan Carlynton could do nothing but ablige.

Norrington called together some of his finest men, discussed a plan, and they moved to the side of the ship, standing in a straight line. The pirates across the sea stopped working, and looked to the English standing almost as in surrender.

"Captain Jack Sparrow!" Gillette shouted to him. "The commanders of the Dauntless, as well as the government of Port Royal, have a proposition for you, as well as your crew."

Jack loaded his gun and moved forward with Gibbs, Will, and Anamaria at his sides, equaling the number of men standing at the side of the Dauntless.

"What may that be, gentlemen?" Will honorably asked.

The Commedore and Jack both stood silent, and let their men talk for them. It was only formal. As far as they knew, something like this had never been done. Very risky that someone were to open fire and immediately kill them all.

"Return Victoria Frances Carlynton to the area Port Royal, of the Commonwealth of Jamaica, of the country of United Kingdom," Gillette called back. All hands on deck of both ships remained silent until Will spoke again.

"For what price?" Will asked. As he spoke, Jack whispered to himself.

"Frances, that's a lovely name now, ain't it!"

"We only ask that she is returned to this ship immediately, or we will have to remove her with force," Gillette stammered. The Commodore couldn't take anymore debating; he immediately raised his voice.

"If Victoria is not brought to the Dauntless immediately, we will have to overtake your ship. You are, after all, committing an act of piracy and kidnapping, as we speak. I will not arrest you dogs if you return the girl this instant!" Norrington was getting red in the face, as Jack stepped forward, while removing his pistol from his belt, remembering it was loaded.

"No," Jack whispered, and lifting his gun. He shot up the glass window closest to him on the opposite ship, currently containing Jonathan Carlynton.

Immediately, in a rush of anger and hate and spite, men (and women) from both sides began to take shots again. Cannons were fired; both ships were now in the midst of battle.

Will snuck below to get more arms, even handing a large gun to Elizabeth; she had a damn good shot.

Jack was killing members of the opposite force left and right, as were the rest of the pirates. The members of the navy knew they had no chance.

Norrington gathered four men behind two barrels and again discussed Victoria's rescue. After about two minutes, they all nodded in agreement, smiling.

"That is the pearl's flaw, make sure you extract on that weakness; now GO!" Norrington shouted, and the soldiers got up to carry out their duties.

APL4H

Over the past thirty minutes (she counted exactly), Victoria had time to think of what she could do to help the fight. She could hear it going on above, thinking of how men dead men lay on the decks of both ships. That was the only thing about piracy that wasn't glamorous to her: the murdering. Yet she knew that people she loved, like Elizabeth and Will, participated in it.

As she was contemplating what other things she liked and disliked about piracy, she heard quick boot steps rushing down the stairs.

"Finally," Victoria whispered, standing up. She slid up next to the plywood, peaking through the crack to see why Jack/Will/Elizabeth was taking so long. She gasped, to see that not a pirate was searching below deck. They were strapping men in red coats. Three of them, too.

The tallest one, with blond hair and a knife at his side, turned to the brig. Victoria immediately moved away from the plywood, to the side of the space, in order to hide from the lantern light given off from another man from the British navy. Victoria could see the shadows play through the cracks, she heard the footsteps coming nearer and nearer, while her breathing became quicker and quicker.

Suddenly, the plywood was ripped from its place, two hands reached in for Victoria. She screamed in terror as the three men grabbed at her body. Seeing their faces shine in the lantern light was so frightening, they looked like goblins. Clearly she was outnumbered and outmatched.

Although Victoria kicked and screamed, it was no use. She cried out everyone's name she could think of, but the men continued to drag her out of the storage area and up the stairs.

"Come ON now, miss," the pudgy one said.

"Let me GO!" Victoria yelled in his ear as loud as she could. When they reached the landing, the tallest man pinned her hands at her back and tied them with rough rope, while the shortest one tied her feet with the rope of the same coarse texture, courteous enough to give her more stepping room so she wouldn't have to waddle like a penguin.

When the guards were sure Victoria had no means of escape, they slowly lead her into the sunlight. The entire deck was silent. Each member of the crew stood in a line, parallel to the next, making an aisle that Victoria, in turn, had to walk through. Behind each crewmember stood a guard from the Navy, apprehending each one. When she had made the whole way through, the crew members growing in rank as she walked farther up, she met Elizabeth, Anamaria, Will, Gibbs, and Jack. Jack was held with shackles behind his back with Norrington. As Victoria looked straight upon (they were at the direct side of the ship, parallel to the Dauntless), there were 6 strong boards lain across each ship, as means to get across. But this made no sense to Victoria. The pirates could have killed the whole Navy fairly easily. Why didn't they? Victoria's eyes opened wide as she saw her father, standing on the deck of the Dauntless with open arms to her. For a moment she forgot to breathe, she was that frightened. The Commodore helped her take a breath when he spoke.

"Ahh, Miss Carlynton, so nice of you to join us."

Victoria said nothing and began to stare at her feet. She would not look at that man, that scoundrel, that pig, who would get involved with such a cruel, evil man such as her father. Money was involved, no doubt. And possibly the temptation of her marriage to him.

"We have decided not to hurt your friends, if you agree to a kind escort by those lovely gentlemen," he nodded to her captors. The tall one began to smirk at her; she turned her head and spit in his eye.

"Ouch!" he cried, moving his hands off of her and towards his eye. Victoria once again began to kick and scream and struggle to break free. It was again a loosing battle. Victoria looked up to see tears rolling down Elizabeth's cheek, Gibbs looking sad, Will, Anamaria, and Jack looking solemn. Victoria knew it probably pained the whole crew, even just a little, to see her fight with such heart.

"Come, come now, Miss," Norrington said again. Her captors began to lead her to the rail where the boards lay. She was incredibly uneasy about crossing them. The first man stood up first, as if to help her walk across. The other two began to lift her by the legs up to the board. She was on, and began to take a step forward. This walk required a great deal of balance, which Victoria possessed.

Her first captor was already halfway across, while the others continued to stand on deck. For about thirty seconds, she just stood there, thinking of what to do. Should she run forward onto the Dauntless? No. That was suicide. Should she jump into the sea? Definitely not. Victoria was many things, but a swimmer she was not. She finally decided she should turn back and run. As she turned, she immediately faced Jack and Norrington. The Commodore lifted a pistol to Jack's head and cocked it.

"Miss Carlynton, we haven't got all day! Go!" Norrington demanded. Looking into Jack's dark eyes, they told her the same thing. Victoria went to each of her friend's faces. Gibbs, Will, Anamaria, and Elizabeth all nodded in turn.

"Goodbye," she murmured to her friends. Victoria then turned on her heel and shuffled across the boards. When she reached the deck, her father's face was immediately in hers.

"Hello Pet," Jonathan said. "Mummy and I have missed you, very, very much."

Victoria took in her father's breath, which smelled clean. This gave her the opportunity to argue with him.

"Have you now? Well, I haven't missed YOU AT ALL!" Victoria screamed back. Unsuspectingly, Jonathan raised his hand to his daughter's cheek.

"You insolent whore! How dare you speak to your father like that! Fool! They were using you, they took you out of lust; they hate you! The only compassion you can find is this world is from your guardians!"

"NO!" she yelled back at him. "I chose that path! I chose to go onto the ship! I wasn't taken out of force! I chose!"

"Get into that cabin right now," Jonathan pointed to the door. "You are going back to Port Royal, where you belong. Your marriage to the Commodore will take place in three days, by the time we return."

"I hate you," Victoria said through a clenched jaw. "I've always hated you."

"Go. Now." he replied gravely. And she went.

In the cabin, Victoria had time to sit down and remove her bonds. She slid her wrists up and down the sharp corner of the commodore's desk to free her hands, then began to untie her feet. If she was quick enough, she could sneak out the cabin and back onto the pearl. However, her feet were madly bleeding, and she needed to tend to them. After her bonds were free and her cuts wrapped (she had found fabric in Norrington's desk), she went to the door. Turning the knob, Victoria immediately realized that it was locked.

"Damn you!" she screamed, pounding on the door fiercely. It was no use, Norrington or her father wouldn't' come for her until they were as far away from the pearl as possible.

Victoria noticed a porthole on the port side of the room. She searched for something sharp in the room, but found nothing strong enough to break the glass. Norrington had taken all of his affects with him. All she could do was watch.

The crew of the pearl was being released, their weapons returned to them, and the men of the Navy made a quick escape. Gibbs seemed to put up the hardest fight of all. He shot one Navy member, but was only subdued by four others soon after. Jack spoke to Norrington as he removed the shackles. He turned and said more to him, though Victoria couldn't make out the words. As Norrington was boarding the Dauntless, Will called out something crude to the Commodore. She distinctly saw Norrington wishing Elizabeth goodbye. He was probably still in love with her, the bastard.

Victoria sat on the chest below the porthole and wept. She was going back to the life she dreaded. Oh well. It was a nice six days, while it lasted.

She continued to cry as Dauntless and Pearl began to prepare to ship off. After a few more minutes, both ships sailed off into opposite directions. The Pearl off into the setting sun, and the Dauntless into darkness.

Hope you liked! Please review, and look for a new chapter around spring break! ;)