Come Clean 1?
Elizabeth looked up at her own footprints in the sand and realized that she had already circled the island. Though she would never admit it, she absolutely adored being able to walk barefoot in the sand in nothing but her chemise with no one to even breathe a word to her. She wasn't supposed to feel that way- she wanted nothing to do with this island. No warm sun, no beautiful blue waters, no hot sand, and definitely no partly-good pirates.
"'S really not all that big, is it?" Jack asked her distractedly, watching his hands as he cleaned every part of his pistol.
As if she had forgotten that she was not alone on the island, Elizabeth turned and stared at the pirate. This was his fault, wasn't it? If he had never come along- this wouldn't have happened would it? No- if he hadn't of come along, she'd be at the bottom of the bay along the shore of Port Royal- or worse... if by the off-chance that the Marines had been able to get her out of there alive, then Barbossa's men would have come anyway.
She could strangle him.
Elizabeth really couldn't decide if she wanted Jack Sparrow's death at her hands or not. Granted, there was no possible way she could kill a man... but she really wanted to. Damn him. Damn him for getting her mixed up in it all... one way or another this had to be blamed on him. It was his fault that he was ever marooned on this God-forsaken island in the first place. It was his fault that he escaped and came along to her home, disturbing the peace like he did.
Her eyes went to the gun that he was cleaning. "If you're going to shoot me, please do so without delay." Elizabeth said grimly.
Jack's back straightened as he looked up to the woman before him, and dropped the pistol down to hang loosely in his grip with his arm resting on his knee. "Is there a problem between us, Miss Swann?" He snapped, feeling as if her attitude wasn't necessary.
"You were going to tell Barbossa about Will in exchange for a ship." She said pointedly, in a tone that suggested that she had just read his diary, and had learned everything there was to know about him.
"We could use a ship!" The captain all but shouted. He stared up at her and gave her an angry, sideways look. "The fact is I was going to NOT tell Barbossa about bloody Will in exchange for a ship, because as long as he didn't know about bloody Will, I had something to bargain with. Which now, no one has. Thanks to bloody stupid Will."
Elizabeth realized in that instant that the pirate standing before her wasn't all wicked. For the first time since he wrapped a thick chain around her neck in Port Royal, she saw that he was interested in helping others as well as himself. Something she should have noticed when he jumped into the waters to save a woman he had never met.
"Oh,"
Jack stood and tucked his pistol away with angry, jerky motions. "Oh," He mimicked.
"He still risked his life to save ours." She pointed out, and cringed as Jack shouted a mock laugh in her direction before turning and running off. "But we have to do something to rescue him!" She shouted irrationally, running after Jack.
Jack had officially lost his temper as he spun around to face the only other person on the island in which he now occupied. Hadn't Elizabeth noticed that they were STRANDED on a DESERTED island? "Off you go then," He said hurriedly, waving her away. "Let me know how that turns out."
Jack was incredibly mad. He was upset about being in his position just for a girl, and for that girl being so loud, so stupid, so naïve, and so striking with nothing but the sun and the ocean behind her. She should be extremely grateful that Jack wasn't just any pirate. Any other pirate would see a woman in nothing but her unmentionables, a deserted island, and only a small amount of life left as an INCREDIBLE opportunity.
Elizabeth had grown tired of Jack mocking her, and still followed after him. "But you were marooned on this island before, weren't you? So we can escape in the same way you did then!"
Jack turned to her and seemingly looked down his nose at her. "To what point and purpose, young missy? The Black Pearl is gone, and unless you have a rudder and a lot of sails hidden the that bodice," He looked her up and down with his hands raised in a shrug "unlikely," He observed with one last nod. "Young Mr. Turner will be dead long before you can reach him." He finished his reasoning with her and started to bounce up and down on the beach sand, watching it slightly give under his weight.
"But you're Captain Jack Sparrow!" She called, circling to the other side of him. "You vanished from under the eyes of seven agents of the East India Company! You sacked Nassau Port without even firing a shot! Are you the pirate I've read about or not?" She paused for her praise to settle in then finally added, "How did you escape last time."
"Last time..." He started, seemingly struggling with himself- not wanting to damage his ego or reputation. "Last time I was here a grand total of three days, alright." He said finally, then with a curt nod and a tight smile, he side stepped her and pulled open a hatch that lead to a cellar. "Last time, the rum runners used this island as a cache, came by and I was able to barter a passage off. From the looks of things- they've long been out of business." He told her, walking down the stairs, then back up with two bottles of rum. "Probably have your bloody friend Norrington to thank for that."
Elizabeth ignored the bottle he offered to her and stared at him- trying to keep her bottom lip from quivering like it was. "So that's it then...That's the secret- 'grand' adventure of the infamous Jack Sparrow? You spent three days lying on a beach, drinking rum?" She spat, the idea becoming more and more disgusting each time it ran through her mind. She wasn't going to get off of this island.
Jack contemplated what to say for a moment, but then grinned and told her, "Welcome to the Caribbean, love." Then push past her and left her staring after him..
Elizabeth Swann, for the first time in her life, didn't try to keep her anger in check, and turned to chase after the captain, yet again.
"So," She started, coming to a stop in the same position they had been after her walk around the island. "Was there any truth to the other stories?"
"Truth!" Jack asked instantly, before sitting. He snarled and raised his right sleeve to show the pirate brand, which she had seen on the docks of Port Royal. But when he lifted the cuff from his left sleeve, she had to take a step back. A nasty scar that seemed to follow the veins burned red across his tan skin. And finally, he dropped his left arm and used his right to pull back the side of his half opened shirt to expose two very dark scars from gun shot wounds. "No truth at all." He took the opportunity to explain the situation at hand while Elizabeth was shocked into silence. He sat down in the hot sand and picked up one of his bottles of rum, and toyed with the cork as he spoke. "Keep a weather eye open for passing ships and our chances are fair." He finished and took a long swig of alcohol.
Elizabeth watched him momentarily, seeing that he had lost all of his former personality. "We have to do something." She returned meekly, unwilling to give up so quickly.
"You're absolutely right." Jack said, making Elizabeth feel hopeful, if for only a split second. He re-corked the bottle he had and sent it rolling in the sand towards her feet before opening the other for himself. "Here's luck to you, Will Turner." He toasted and drank.
Elizabeth slowly bent and picked up the bottle from the shallow wave that had wrapped itself around her ankles. She then slowly walked over to Jack before sitting down in the sand as well. Looking at the bottle, she uncorked it and sighed. "Drink up me 'earties, yo ho." She muttered before taking a small drink of the liquid and cringing.
"What was that, 'Lizabeth?" Jack asked, turning and squinting to see her in the sun.
"It's Ms. Swann." She bit and looked out to sea. Jack flashed a irritated set of hand movements before she continued. "Nothing. A song I learnt as a child when I thought it'd be exciting to meet a pirate." Elizabeth answered, her tone showing her dissatisfaction with the pirate at hand.
Jack widened his eyes for a moment, but then brushed off the comment. "Let's hear it."
"No!" She protested, immediately.
Jack rolled his eyes and pointed out cruelly, "We have the time. Let's have it."
"No!" Elizabeth said again, and looked away as she ran her hands up and down the bottle. "I'd have to have a lot more to drink," She added quietly.
Jack looked at her and raised his own bottle to down a bit more, but served her with a true pirate's smirk and asked, "How much more?" Before taking a long drink.
Elizabeth shook her head and moved to make herself comfortable in the sand.
The next several hours were spent with Elizabeth rolling the bottle around in the sand where she lie on her side, her eyes glued on the flat, blue horizon. Mutiny wasn't exactly as exciting as it was in the books right now. Elizabeth spent most of her time thinking of not only Will, but the rest of Jack's crew as well. She had been taken by one of those wretched undead pirates and swung back over to the Inteceptor- where she quickly met up with Jack. No sooner than she had her feet on the deck, the Pearl turned its rudder to the opposing ship, and retreated. They had what they wanted- or so they thought.
It wasn't long after Will swung over the railing with a pistol to his neck that she knew her fate- starving to death on a deserted island.
Jack came walking over, his pace almost a skip, and plopped down beside her, his elbows propping him up as he lay on his back. He closed his eyes and let the sun wash over him before speaking. "Sorry to disappoint, love."
"No." She said gently. "You're just sorry you haven't anyone to talk to."
Jack sighed, sounding like he was going to have a smart come-back to that, but instead lowered himself all the way back onto the sand and smirked. "You're a bitter lass, aren't you?"
"I happen to be waiting for myself to starve to death, Captain -Jack- -Sparrow-, I'm not in the most impressive of moods." She spat through clenched teeth and kept her eyes squinting out to the waters.
"Aye- but there's food, love." He said sitting up. How could she have missed that? "In all of your... blind rage about me not being the most... marvelous pirate in the ocean, did you not see the cellar I was in?"
"I presume it's full of rum, is it not?"
"Rum yes, but there's food as well, love." He told her with a satisfied smile. "You really ought to learn to trust the pirate, Miss Swann."
"Not likely."
Jack got up, and with some convincing and a lot of tugging, he finally got Elizabeth's hopeless, limp form to get up out of the sand and follow him. There wasn't much food in the cellar; some cooled fruits, but mostly spices and other bits of food stored on a typical merchant vessel and, which would otherwise be nonexistent on the island. A few slabs of large salt-water fish lay wrapped in seaweed, covered in salt as to not spoil in the coolness of the underground storage room instead of the hot surface of the land. There were even a few bottles of fresh water mixed in with the rum, useful when stranded on an island.
Elizabeth and Jack sparingly ate some fruit that had kept surprisingly well, but stayed away from the meat. No sense in chancing illness when one is already facing death. After eating and grabbing another bottle of rum, Jack gathered a few palm tree leaves and a wooden crate from the cellar and lit them by sprinkling some rum on top, the knocking two rocks together to get a spark and eventually a flame. It would more than likely be a long night.
