Disclaimer: POTC shuffles to the left, shuffles to the right…
A/N: BATTLE SCENE!
The vegetation is thick, but the crew of the Pearl slide through, barely disturbing a leaf. Squirrel pretends she's back in Tortuga, slipping from rafter-beam to rafter-beam. If we can get in first and strike before they're expecting it, Squirrel recalls Jack's words, we may have a fighting chance. Four pirate crews against one ain't no gentleman's duel. So we're evening the odds a little. Aye, Squirrel?
Aye.
Squirrel stops, and Jack almost runs into her. "What's the hold-up?" He hisses.
"I heard something." She whispers back.
"Tread lightly, then." Jack says, lifting his cutlass.
The crew move forward, silent as shadows. Suddenly, a clearing, banked on three sides by cliffs. Squirrel looks up. We've been tricked!
Oil drums flare up suddenly. Squirrel shuts her eyes against the glare, seeing stars. The crew of the Pearl come together, huddling in a group in the centre of the clearing.
"About time you got here, Sparrow." Smith's voice echoes around the clearing. "We were getting bored."
Jack's eyes flick back and forth. "Figures. You claim a fair fight, then go and bend the Code to your own purpose. Some gentleman you are, Smith."
"Isn't the Code more like guidelines?" Smith laughs from his hidden position. Pirates ooze out of the darkness, grinning and baring teeth and weapons. "Actually, I did even up the fight a little. I killed anyone who had a personal grudge against Captain Sparrow, in order to better my chances of killing you myself."
"You bastard!" Squirrel hisses under her breath.
"It's a nice surprise to see you survived, Miss Grey." Smith says, calmly. Squirrel looks around the cliffs, trying to figure out where the man's voice is coming from. "It may be a minor inconvenience, but it is good to see you here."
Squirrel draws her sword. Jack puts a hand on her wrist, steadying her, then steps forward.
"So, Smith," He yells up at the cliffs, ignoring the small army massing around him and his crew. "This is your idea of a gentleman's duel? Hiding up there while we hack your men to pieces?"
"I think not, Sparrow." The man's voice turns harsh. "This time, there's no way your special luck can hold out. You'll be dead, and the legend of the Black Pearl and Captain Jack Sparrow will fade into nothingness."
"So, this is just a fight to boost your iddy-biddy ego, is it?" Jack grins sourly. "Beating Sparrow and becoming number one pirate of the Spanish Main? And here I thought it was for revenge!"
Smith is silent for a moment, then the sound of a tin whistle fills the clearing. Smith's crew roars, then charges forward.
"Take what you can!" Jack yells.
"Give nothing back!" The crew of the Pearl reply, then yell their own battle cries and meet their enemies head on.
Swords sing and clash, pistols fire, the air smells of fresh blood, oil and gunpowder. Squirrel keeps low to the ground, slashing and stabbing. Schlit. A pirate falls, screaming, his hamstring cut clean though. Schlit. Another clutches his stomach, wondering where his opponent is. Squirrel keeps moving, cloak flapping behind her. Step, swing, defend, jump, duck swing, stab… Squirrel falls into the rhythm of the fight, humming under her breath. The words to her song come back, and the tune that plays in her head keeps her in time with the fight. The rhythm of the fight. Squirrel thinks briefly. The rhythm of the fight.
It's a bloody battle. Oil barrels are knocked over, and the ground itself catches fire. Squirrel stops for a moment to catch her breath. Jack appears beside her, panting, his shirt slashed and soaked with blood.
"Part Two of the plan." He gasps. "Use the cliffs."
Squirrel leaps away. Two pirates advance towards her, leering, and Squirrel performs a spinning leap that leaves them both clutching at their bleeding wrists.
How many of them are there! Squirrel thinks frantically as she scales the cliffs. Bullets bury themselves in the limestone around her as she scrambles to find footholds. Finally, she reaches the top of the cliffs. She ducks behind a clump of thick ferms and wipes her hands on her already blood-stained cloak. It can be washed. She pulls out her shanghai and tips her ammunition on the ground.
Hidden by the fern, she can fire stones at Smith's pirates without being seen herself. And no-one, unless they had Squirrel's quick hands and ability to climb anything, could reach her. Unless, of course, they shot her. Squirrel fires an endless volley of stones.
Shadows dance around on the cliff walls. Pirates fall, dead or unconscious, on both sides. Ana and Jack reach each other and defend while they catch their breath.
"Part Three yet, Captain?" Ana gasps.
"I reckon!" Jack shouts back.
Ana manages a weary grin, despite the gash across her forehead. "Good. I can't wait to get this over with." A stone sings through the air, hitting a pirate standing right behind Ana. He clutches at his throat while Ana runs him through. "Thankyou, Miss Grey." She mutters, then both she and the captain return to the fight.
Squirrel frowns. The tide of the battle is finally turning. Jack must've finally put part three of the plan into action. But still… Squirrel feels the same gut feeling she felt on Tortuga when someone used loaded dice. Something's not right… Smith's not going to give up this easily. She fires three more stones before realising. Where IS Smith? Squirrel scans the cliffs, keeping one eye on the battle from behind her fern.
Dammit.
"Allo, luv." The pirate grins, holding up a pistol. "Smith said you'd be here, shooting your little rocks. And he agreed to let me deal with it." The pirate grins in a wide yellow smile. "Be a good girl and scream for help."
Squirrel loads her shanghai and her prime English accent. "Listen, you scabby two-legged water rat, I am no mere girl and I would much appreciate it if you would not entitle me as such. Oh, and by the way." Squirrel tosses her head and rises to her feet. "I am disinclined to acquiesce to your request… you …" Squirrel lets loose her stream of curses as she throws aside her shanghai and springs at the man.
The pirate is tackled to the ground, mostly out of surprise and Squirrel's momentum. Squirrel lets loose a flurry of kicks and punches, aware she's not doing much damage, still cursing like a stepped-on cat. The pirate roars with laughter, then picks Squirrel up and tosses her into the bushes. Squirrel only just stops from going over the edge.
"You've got a foul mouth, dontcha, luv?" The smile fades as he pulls himself to his feet. "You're going to regret that." He scowls.
"Really?" Squirrel holds up a pistol, waving it teasingly in the air. "How so?"
The pirate stares, then reaches for his belt. His pistol is gone. Squirrel picks up a rock and lays the pistol on the ground. She grins impishly and lifts the rock above her head
"Should I bash it?"
"You little rodent!" The man roars, leaping forward. Squirrel leaps quickly to the side, trying to keep her balance on the edge of the cliff. The pirate picks up his pistol and aims. Squirrel throws the large rock, and he clutches his face, screaming, staggering back away from the edge. Squirrel leaps down into the soil, scrabbling for her shanghai. She hunts around for a smooth stone.
"Not this time, poppet." The pirate scowls, all the good humour gone from his face. Squirrel stares down the muzzle of the gun, then slowly rises to her feet, backing away. But every step she backs away, he comes one step closer.
"If you was a man," the pirate sneers, "I might just congratulate you on your valiant effort. But you ain't made no valiant effort, you're a girl, and you are still going to die."
Squirrel stares at the pistol, panting from exertion and fear. Her feet find the edge of the cliff. She can back up no further. She trembles.
Jack looks up, following his opponent's eyes to the cliff face. Squirrel stands, grey-cloaked, her back to the fight down below. A man stands in front of her, sneering, his pistol to her face.
My amulet won't save me this time…
A loud bang, a flash of light, and a puff of smoke, and a woman's cry. Squirrel seems to fly… backwards. Falling, slowly, down. Jack stares in horror as the grey-cloaked girl falls faster and faster, seeming to hang in mid-air. And suddenly she stops, landing on the forest floor with a sickening crack.
"NO!" Jack slashes his opponent aside and runs to her.
She stares up at the sky, eyes open and unseeing, mouth open in shock. One of her hands still tightly clutches her shanghai, the other loose by her side. Jack kneels by Squirrel's side, laying down his sword.
"Squirrel?" He asks gently. The fight around him is forgotten. He gently squeezes the girl's shoulder. The one with the burn wounds. She'd have to react to that. "Squirrel, are you right, luv?" Squirrel's eyes do not move. Neither does any other part of her. Jack shakes Squirrel, harder this time.
"Come on, Squirrel! This ain't the time to fool around." His eyes brim with tears, and he doesn't know why. "Get up, lass! Get up!"
Squirrel doesn't move.
Jack picks up Squirrel's hand and holds it between his own, finally understanding. He lays her hand down gently again, then pulls his pistol from his belt.
A single shot, and the man who shot Squirrel crashes to the ground nearby. Another shot, and another enemy pirate falls down dead. Jack slides away his gun, replaces his sword into his scabbard.
She's not waking up… Jack throws back his head, tears streaming down his face, and roars with anger and grief.
A/N: -puts marshmallows on a stick and starts singing- Hey now, hey now - don't dream it's over! Hey now, heeeyy now…