Chapter 3: Tortuga
When the light faded the four looked around, taking in their new
Surroundings. Wherever they were it was definitely not Buffy's house.
What it did appear to be was one of the most disreputable taverns
on earth. The patrons all looked dirty and dangerous. Most of them
were staring at Buffy and her friends and all of them were carrying an
interesting assortment of weaponry. This did not look good.
"Okay, where the hell are we?", asked Xander apprehensively.
"Mid to late 1700's judging by the clothing and weapons. Other then
that I'm not quite sure." Giles replied. He turned to address one of the
men that stood watching them. "excuse me sir, but could you tell us
exactly where we are?" The man looked a little surprised, and more
than a little drunk. "You be in Tortuga, mate.", he replied drunkenly.
"And where exactly is that?", demanded Buffy. She noticed that
most of the men in the room were staring at her and Willow. She
glared at them. "What?" It wasn't like the girls were wearing anything
revealing. Although modern clothes probably were considered scandalous at this time. "Tortuga is an island in the Caribbean,
Buffy.", Giles told her, "I believe that we have been brought back in
time to when the curse was broken." "And what curse would that be
mate?", a voice asked from behind Giles. They group turned to stare
at the man. He was most definitely a pirate, and an interesting
looking one at that. Aside from his clothes he had done part of his
hair in braids with beads then left the rest of it. The Scoobies
exchanged glances. "Who are you?", Buffy asked. "I'm Captain
Jack Sparrow, love. And who might you be?" The Scoobies quickly
introduced themselves. "That was an interesting trick ye did.
appearing out o' the middle of thin air like that. How'd ye do it?" The
gang let Giles handle the explanations, which he did as vaguely as
possible. "That's interesting. Come on let's sit down and have a drink.
Then you can tell me what's going on.", Jack said. The Scoobies
exchanged another uncertain look. However they did need
information and this Captain Sparrow seemed willing enough to talk
to them. Having made up their minds they followed Jack to a table near the back of the tavern.
Thirty minutes later the Scooby gang had finished relating the
story of the amulet and the reason they believed that it had
transported them into Jack's time. Of course the gang had modified
the story somewhat to omit details such as demons, Slayers, and
Watchers. "So obviously the people who tried to steal the amulet
wanted to come back to this time to stop the curse from being
broken. Instead since we found it we wound up on this fun time-travel
trip.", Buffy said. "Um guys, I hate to point out the obvious, but the
amulet is here with us. Which means it's not somewhere where the
Slayer can easily find it to break the curse.", Xander said. The group
exchanged glances as the reality of the situation sank in. "Actually,
Xand, it's in the perfect place for the Slayer to find it.", Buffy said with
a sigh. She really didn't want to get involved with this, but she knew
she wasn't going to get a choice in the matter. She was a Slayer and
she had the amulet. That meant that she was the one who had to
break the curse. "What do you mean?", Xander asked looking momentarily confused. Then he answered his own quest with a loud
protest. "No, no way. There is no way in hell we are going to go
chasing after some ghost ship!"
Jack had been listening to the convestation going on around
him with mounting confusion. Why would these people actually want
to go looking for a cursed pirate ship? He voiced his thoughts aloud.
"Why do ye want to go after it? No one in his right mind would go
after the Heart of Darkness." "Because in order to break the curse
and destroy the pirates the blood of a Slayer must be shed on the
amulet. And this must be done aboard the Heart of Darkness.", Buffy
replied. "Listen love you don't want to go chasin' after that ship.
Haven't ye heard the stories? That crew ain't just damned, they're
insane. Not the sort of people a pretty lass like yerself would want t'
be meeting." "Unfortunately I don't have much of a choice in the
matter. I'm the Slayer." At Jack's blank look she sighed and
elaborated. "Slay-er. The Chosen One. She who hangs out in
cemeteries." Jack only looked more confused. "Never mind."
"Alright", Xander said after the long silence that had followed
Buffy's explanation of what she was, "so we need to find these guys.
So the next logical question would be: how?" "Well, obviously we'll
need to find a ship that would be willing to take us." They all turned
to look at Jack. "What are ye all looking at me for?", he demanded.
"You own the fastest ship in the Caribbean.", Willow said with a smile,
recalling what she had read about it. "Aye, my Pearl is the fastest
ship there is. But me an' my crew don't do suicide missions love.",
Jack said flatly. "It's okay. We understand.", Buffy said. The others
looked at her in shock. "Come on guys", she said standing up, "there
has to be somebody here who isn't afraid of a challenge." "Now
hold on a second, love. I'm not afraid of anything. I'm Captain Jack
Sparrow. I killed the man so evil hell itself spat 'im back out.", Jack
protested. "Good so I'm guessing more undead pirates won't be
much or a threat for you.", Buffy replied calmly. Jack opened his
mouth to protest but stopped. He couldn't argue the point without
proving her right. He glared at Buffy who smirked right back at him.
He let out a loud sigh of frustration. "Alright, ye've got yourselves a
ship. But tell me what do ye plan on doing once we catch up with
the Heart of Darkness? Don't tell me you actually plan on fighting
them?" "No, I thought we'd just stand there and let them kill us.",
Buffy replied very sarcastically. "No offense love but I doubt you'd
last five seconds against them." Jack said shifting his gaze from Buffy
to Willow and last of all to Xander. The look on his face told them
everything they needed to know about his opinion of their fighting
ability. Buffy answered angrily, "First of all my name is Buffy, not love.
Second of all you don't have any idea who I am or what I am. I've
fought the damned all my life and I'll do it again!" "Whatever you
say love.", Jack replied, clearly trying to get a rise out of her. Buffy
simply glared at him. "So when are we going to go to your ship?",
Giles asked quickly, trying to diffuse the tension. "Just as soon as I've
finished my rum.", Jack replied.
Finally after what seemed like an eternity Jack finished the last of his rum and led the Scoobies out of the tavern and into the streets
of Tortuga. The streets were just as filthy as the tavern. Prostitutes were
hang all over men and pirates were stumbling around drunkenly.
"This place is terrible.", Willow whispered to Xander. "Yes, and yet
we've been in worse places. At least nothing apocalyptic is
happening.", he whispered back. The group continued walking for a
while. All of a sudden an obviously drunken man walked up to Willow.
"Hi lassie, looking to have a good time?", he slurred. "No, not really.",
willow said, hastily backing away. The drunk reached out to grab her
and suddenly fell down unconscious. Willow looked past him to Jack
who had knocked him out. "Yer gonna want to watch yerself 'round
here, love.", he told her. "Yeah, thanks.", Willow said. The rest of the
journey to the docks was uneventful. When they arrived Jack
pointed to a tall black ship with black sails. "There she is mates. The
Black Pearl."