Disclaimer: The characters and concepts in this story pertaining to The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl are the property of the Walt Disney Corporation. This is an amateur writing effort meant for entertainment purposes only.

Chapter Nineteen: The Scarlet Nightmare

William wasn't certain whether or not the Island was under British rule. The port that lay before them bore a lot of resemblance to Tortuga, and as they drew nearer, William's stomach began doing flip-flops. The last time he had been to Tortuga, he had been with a less than trustworthy Jack Sparrow, making even less trustworthy plans with the pirate captain and his old allies. The same feelings descended upon him as the distance between he and anarchist port lessoned.

Worse yet, he doubted there would be anywhere in the port to contact the Swann's regarding his location. Perfect, he sighed. Weatherby was going to have him for breakfast when he got back.

He tilted his head back in the rain, allowing the soft drizzle to splatter over his forehead and cheeks. It soothed his unease somewhat, but every second that passed brought him that much closer to another port overrun with pirates. His pulse quickened. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Something besides his predispositions was exacerbating his nervousness. The question was what.

Morgan approached the bow of the deck with a serious expression on her face. He could have sworn he'd heard Ana Maria shout a taunt as she emerged from the cabins and wouldn't be surprised if she actually had. William remembered Gibbs saying that it was bad luck to bring a woman on board a ship, now he was realizing that the superstition was wrong. Two women were much worse.

Pulling her telescope from her coat, Morgan inspected the state of things at the shore. The bring bonfires lining the coast cast long silhouettes of the ships in their direction, giving her an accurate reading of how many pirates were settling there that night and if any were threats. William watched her with only mild interest, unable to muster anything better. His body was trembling out of unconscious fear, and he didn't know what for.

He cast another glance in her direction only to find her in much the same state. Her usually stoic exterior had gone limp, and the telescope dropped from her eye, hanging loosely at her side. "No," she said. "It can't be," and then raised the telescope back up in order to get a better look. Whatever fears she had were confirmed, for she folded the telescope back up and marched back towards the helm.

"We've got to turn this ship around," she said, "Now."

"We've only just arrived," Ana snapped back. She was getting cocky now that she knew she had the Captain's ear.

Morgan didn't bother with argument. She descended back down to the lower decks, probably to consult Jack herself.

Will didn't like the way this was going. He followed after her.

The pirate captain was still drinking in the galley, consuming yet another bottle of wine when Morgan marched in. He recognized the look on her face from the argument before and rolled his eyes, unable to face her.

"What now?"

William walked into the room.

"It's the Scarlet Nightmare," Morgan said. "She's pulled into port tonight as well."

For a second, Jack seemed to go as white as a sheet, but then he regained composure. "You're sure?"

"Positive. I'd recognize that flag anywhere."

"Only fools are positive, darling," he replied with the same Jack Sparrow swagger he was so famous for. "You'd better be damn sure about this."

"I am. Otherwise I'd come ask you to look for yourself."

"What's the Scarlet Nightmare?" Will asked, not enjoying being uninvolved at all.

"I tried to order Ana Maria to turn around, but she's only going to take an order from you," Morgan continued as if she didn't hear him.

"No," Jack said. "Sail on."

"This isn't time to get cocky, Jack!"

"I think this is a perfect time to get cocky. Sail on, quartermaster."

"Jack!"

"Sail. On."

Morgan opened up her mouth to object again but couldn't come up with a suitable argument. She stormed out of the room.

William looked from her to Jack. "What's the Scarlet Nightmare?"

Morgan disappeared on deck again. Jack remained.

"What's the Scarlet Nightmare, Jack?" he demanded.

"A ship…"

"But not just any ship," Will snapped. "I remember that ship, the name. Who captains that ship, Jack?"

He received nothing but silence again. "Who captains that ship, Jack?"

"Robert Bateman," Jack replied, all his swagger gone. "Captain of the Scarlet Nightmare for the past twenty years; the scourge of the Caribbean; the most feared pirate to have sailed the seven seas; Satan's spawn; the embodiment of all evil; and the man paying to have me killed."

There was a beat. The two stared at each other, attempting to work out what had just been said and make sense of it. William was the first to break the silence. "He's put a bounty on you?"

"Technically speaking, yes. He put a bounty on me."

"Do you make it a habit to try and get yourself killed?"

"Bateman's already spotted us. If we turn around now we'll attract even more suspicion than stopping for the night."

"He's more likely to find you if we pull into port!"

"Damned if we do and damned if we don't, but turning around is the more evil of the two…evils, so naturally we choose the lesser of the two and we're bound to live another day."

"Except that you have no way of knowing if Bateman's spotted us yet."

"Except that maybe that's just what Bateman wants us to think. So in thinking that, we have been forced to play his game and therefore make him the winner. However, if we think otherwise we have avoided the entire nasty process of letting him win and win ourselves."

Jack smiled, impressed by his infallible logic. Will was just trying to make sense of the mess of words and failing miserably. He decided it was best to just trust Jack's judgment. As screwed up as it was, it rarely steered them on the wrong course, and even when it did, they survived.

Yeah, Will scoffed, barely.

"What do you mean I'm not allowed to go ashore!" Jack shouted angrily.

Morgan looked up from the process of filling a bag with some belongings to bring over to shore for the night. She rolled her eyes. "The most deadly pirate in the Caribbean is looking to kill you, and you want to waltz right into his path?"

"So why can't I go ashore? You're going."

"Nobody's looking to cut my head off," she reasoned, strapping a belt around her waist with her sword dangling from it. "Besides, we're going to need supplies for this voyage - supplies besides rum."

He looked shocked. There were other supplies besides rum.

"What kind of an argument is that? You haven't got any money either."

She smiled, impressed by whatever trick she had up her sleeve. "But I have got noble authority Jack, something that can get you supplies without money."

"Ah," Jack said, clearly not understanding. "So that explains the get-up then, does it?"

She was dressed just nice enough to pass as a naval officer, but not nice enough to pass for a noble. With her false facial hair and tricorn, she no longer looked like the confident noble marching through the chaotic streets of Port Royal. She was no better than those bumbling guards Jack had met supervising the Interceptor.

"Just stay here," she said. "And keep out of trouble."

The second she left the cabin Jack's face developed a mischievous grin. Glancing into the palm of his hand, he examined several pieces of jewelry he'd plucked from Morgan's chests and grinned from ear to ear.

He'd keep out of trouble alright. He just wouldn't stay on board.

Author's Notes

Ah yes, the familiar sound of Jack about to get himself into a precarious situation. He does seem to do that often doesn't he, especially when there's a chance to get some rum out of the bargain?

A little bit of explanation here just in case anyone's confused: Morgan does not, in fact have any money to her name. However, she wouldn't sell any of her things because she enjoys her nobility. Her background doesn't allot for her to give away anything that has any sort of cost, seeing as how obsessed she is with her appearance. So her interest in the treasure is to further her collection and potentially retire, not drive herself into the poor house.

William's anxieties, as most of you have probably guessed, are related to the Scarlet Nightmare. They too are explored later.

Also, I have edited the previous chapter. Thank you to everyone who noted my historical error! I was under the impression that cigarettes transcended time, but I was most definitely wrong. I have made some changes to make the chapter historically accurate. Thank you for bringing this to my attention! I will do more research from now on.

Reviews

Smithy: Thanks for the point about the cigarettes! And I am staying as far away from Will's love life as I possibly can. As useless as I thought Elizabeth was, they're meant for each other. I can square with that. I'm glad to read that you're enjoying the story!

Alexwacrap: Mmmmm…milkshakes. It's been a long time. Although I did have ice cream just the other day. Thanks so much for the compliment! But there really is no reason to be envious. You're very talented with words yourself!

I wasn't really intending on making you cry! I'll warn you before there's anything between Jack and Morgan, just so you're on your guard.

CaptainAnnieFinn: Definitely not finished yet, there's much more to go. You're the second person who seems to think that there's only one chapter though. Is there an error with the document? It's fine from my end, but Fanfiction has had troubles before…

Lyn: No worries about the review! Computers are the least dependable things on the planet, especially with sites like these. The formatting is so fragile. Anyways, thanks so much for the depth of your review and the suggestions. I really appreciated them. It spurred my own relentless research on snuff, cigars, and pipes so that I could remedy my ignorance. I actually did some research on pirates and found that smoking tobacco alone got you forty lashings (at least for a crewman, it didn't say anything about Captains) and you were right, it was likely to cause a fire. Plus, snuff was considered more dignified in court, seeing as how tobacco was so smelly, so it was more likely to become a habit with Morgan after spending such a long time with nobles herself. However, by this time it was also made available to the working class – thus, the reason why pirates made it so popular.

I really appreciate the correction! I'm going to try and be more accurate from now on and do my research beforehand!

Thanks so much to all the reviewers thus far!