A/N: Not me spending my Friday night watching videos on MMA, judo, and jiu jitsu so I could "choreograph" this chapter. We all have our hobbies.

Elizabeth lowered herself down her makeshift rope with surprising grace considering her life up 'til not hadn't been a particularly action-packed one. On cue, once the rope stopped shaking, signalling that she'd gotten to the bottom and climbed into a boat, Governor Swann seemed to realise he wasn't being listened to.

"Elizabeth?" He asked.

Theo could see through the foggy glass panes that he had not yet turned around, so she moved swiftly and quietly towards one of the thick wooden panels that made up the doorframe, pressing her back tightly against it and praying she couldn't be seen from the other side.

"Elizabeth, are you there?" He pressed "Are you even listening to me?"

She'd thought by now that her heart would be pounding - that her knees would be threatening to weaken beneath her weight. But they weren't. In truth, she didn't even know why she expected it at this point. She'd by no means seen even half of the violence she would be plunged into before this was over, but she'd seen enough to know deep down that she wouldn't be overtaken with sheer terror. Perhaps she was just worried about any sudden-onset reluctance to collect a few more injuries - or that in her endeavours to remember that her future and her survival here wasn't as tenuously guaranteed as it was for others, that she might remember it a bit too much at some point and be overcome.

But there was no choice. She couldn't exactly jump ship and swim back to Port Royal for safety. Sure, she could stay in the cabin…but that was just as much of an impossibility in her mind as truly abandoning them all entirely. Watching through the glass as he stood, she carefully untied the length of fabric that held the curtains by the large windowed doors aside, bundling it up in her fist as she waited for the governor to open the door. He did - but only after knocking - walking straight into the room without noticing her at all. For that, she thanked James' orders to keep the ship in darkness while their operation was underway.

Governor Swann strode straight into the middle of the room as he spotted the open window. No doubt he expected she'd followed Elizabeth - although it was equally likely that Theo simply was not his concern at that particular moment. Still, she had her opportunity. Swiftly striding from the room, she closed the door behind her and looped the curtain tie around the door handles a couple of times before tying them in a tight knot. He wouldn't be getting out - nor would any of Barbossa's crew be getting in. Well, not unless they cut her makeshift rope. That was always a possibility - but surely the governor would lock the doors when the commotion started. Theo considered her own small help to him as her own wedding gift to Elizabeth. Nobody could say she wasn't a big person.

The whole time she worked, she'd half expected to hear some soldier cry out to announce her action as treason or something along those lines, but nothing came. As she turned towards the deck, her hand was already gripping the hilt of her borrowed sword where it sat in its scabbard, just in time for her to spot one of Barbossa's crew, skeletal in the moonlight, sneaking up behind a redcoat on patrol.

"Behind you!" She cried to the man, pointing desperately to the pirate behind him.

It was, she realised just as the shout left her lips, a gamble. The man could have easily been too baffled by her cry to heed the warning - but James had trained his men well. As if by instinct, the man whirled around as he drew his sword, just as Barbossa's skeletal crew member brought his axe down on what would've been the guard's skull. It was a moment that Theo might have later come to view as portentous, as hopeful - a sign that she could change something, because he would have died had she not been present. But the truth of the matter was, she delayed his death by mere seconds, for another pirate was soon upon him, driving his sword into the man's back as he fought the one she'd first warned him about.

Still, it wasn't all for nothing - the clash of steel on steel, along with the cries, gained the attention of the men and rather ruined the stealth approach of Barbossa's crew.

"Pirates!" she cried at the top of her lungs for good measure, earning a number of snarls and sneers "We're under attack! Pirates!"

She could hear voices but not words from above - hastily called orders. There was no time for Theo to celebrate, though, for the pirates were fast descending upon them like locusts - and with most of the men up on the quarter deck, she was the first port of call for their assailants. That fabled terror that she'd expected to feel beforehand threatened to rise then, but she stamped it down.

A glance towards the stairs to her left and right had her heart sinking, for it became painfully obvious that she could not reach them before the pirates would reach her. Even if she could, running up them would require turning her back on their skeletal attackers, and that would almost certainly guarantee death, too. There was nothing to do but stand and fight.

A few of them exchanged looks, apparently coming to the very reasonable decision that it would not take all of them to deal with her. So one peeled off from the group while the others moved towards the stairs. Their drawing nearer was met with gunfire and the sound of soldiers racing to meet them, but Theo had no time to focus on that. The one closing in on her, it took her a delayed moment to notice thanks to the skeletal appearance, was the man who she'd fought aboard The Interceptor.

If she didn't already have sufficient proof that the universe hated her, this would've made her at least begin to suspect as such. The safe, warm, locked quarters to her back began to feel incredibly tempting for just another split second, but they were no longer an option, and she knew that. So she held tightly to her nerve, and she raised her sword. And then he was upon her.

For the first few blows it felt like she was desperately trying to fend off a force of nature itself - like she had resolved to battle thunder and lightning itself, with each hack and slash raining down upon her and her only just managing to catch and deflect them by sheer luck alone. But then they fell into a flow, and she began to find a rhythm in the movements - a rhyme, and a reason. And then the urge to run faded away into nothing, replaced only by an overwhelming urge to see this bastard dead once and for all, for it was almost certainly the only way he'd stop.

Somewhere during the fight a bell began to sound, near-deafening thanks to their proximity, and it took her a moment (occupied as she was) to realise one of James' men had gotten to the alarm bell to alert the bulk of the forces in the boats as to what was going on. Christ, why hadn't she thought of that? If she'd gotten there when all this was first happening she could have…Her internal cursing was cut short when one of the pirates swiftly drove his sword into the soldier's back to cut the alert short. Ah. Suddenly she was glad the idea hadn't entered her mind.

Her own sparring partner was growing tired of the rhythm they'd fallen into, trying desperately to catch her off-guard with feints and jabs that came out of nowhere, but Theo managed to catch them all - some at the very last shred of a second, but catch them she did. Until he lodged the hilt of his sword against her own, and used it as leverage to drive his skull into her own. Stars flashed across Theo's eyes and she went staggering back into the doors behind her, one of the panes cracking with the force in which her shoulder went smashing back into it while the door handles went jabbing into her ribs. Scrambling with her free hand for purchase, she tried to regain her footing, but he struck out with the hilt of his sword now, catching her in the temple, and she went fully sprawling down onto the floor.

When her brain finally regained the ability to make sense of what her eyes were seeing, she realised that the stars she was seeing weren't metaphorical - she was on her back, staring up at the night's sky. And then the pirate was above her. Her hand clenched around nothing, and she realised she'd dropped her sword. Her head was still reeling from the blow, and the screeching message to move and find it was having a hard time getting from her mind to her limbs.

While he had no lips in the first place, from the gleam in his eyes she knew he was grinning down at her, drawing back his sword, milking what was sure to be a death blow for all it was worth. Theo glared up at him, refusing to beg, nor to cower. And then a shot rang through the air. The bullet cracked through the vertebrae of the pirate's neck, a shot in a million, sending shards of bone flying through the air like shrapnel…and the pirate's skull toppling from his body. He fell, offering Theo an unobstructed view of the man who'd fired the shot. James, standing by the rail of the ship, shoulders squared and pistol raised right in front of him, like some great mythic hero. Which wasn't too far off the mark of what he was, given his supposed fictional status.

The awe rose to her face of its own accord, before she could even brush it off as plain and simple relief, instead. She'd barely risen to her feet and taken up her sword again when he was at her side, dragging her the rest of the way up.

"Get inside," he ordered, pushing her in the direction of the door as he drew his sword.

With his free hand, he tried to open the door to the captain's quarters, but the length of velvet tied around them stopped them. He frowned, staring down at it before giving her a distinctly unimpressed look, having taken no time at all to realise she was to blame for that, for as long as he could afford to before he was battering another attacker back.

"They can't be killed - not yet, anyway," she breathed, shaking herself back into reality with the very limited time she had to do so.

"Not yet?" He bit out between swings.

"Jack and Will are working on that."

She made no mention of Elizabeth having run off to help them. It didn't seem the sort of thing that would ease his woes at that moment.

Ducking, she lifted the skull of the pirate who had almost killed her as his headless body scrambled about the deck on its hands and knees in search of it. Taking care to avoid the gnashing teeth as he tried to chomp at her (again - it seemed the bastard had a thing for biting), she drew her arm back and lobbed it overboard with all of her might, as though throwing a baseball. It seemed like a fantastic way to solve the problem…until the body slowly stood, sword in hand.

"You've got…to be…joking," James forced out through gritted teeth as they were forced apart, ducking the blind arcing swings.

Heaving her own sword into the air, Theo brought it down as hard as she could on the shoulder joint, cleaving the arm free of the body. Always one to catch on quickly, especially in matters of battle, James took up the arm without hesitation - by the wrist, so it couldn't continue to swing the sword it still held at him despite its best efforts - and hurled it in the same direction that Theo had discarded the skull. They made quick work of the rest of the body after that, cleaving it into pieces and discarding it in all directions. Struck by a very unwelcome visual of the pirate slowly piecing himself back together on the ocean floor, Theo forced it out of mind, resolving to deal with him again if and when the matter arose. There were far more pirates between them until that moment might come.

Ever the stubborn one, James was still trying valiantly to undo her mess of complicated knots around the door handles so he might force her inside, but she'd done a good job of turning the length into a tangled mess of loops and knots, and he could neither afford to take his sword out of the fight and turn his back on the fight for the time it would take to cut it, nor to give it the amount of attention it would take to undo it one-handed. It took a few dangerous near-misses - which Theo beat back herself with grunts of exertion and furious shouts - before he gave up entirely with his own angry grunt, trying to bat her behind him with his free hand so that she was wedged between his back and the doors.

"Stay behind me," he ordered.

"You can't defend me and yourself at the same time," she argued, fending off an attack that came from the left while he was occupied with the right, as if to illustrate her point.

"It's bad enough your being injured while under my care, I will not abide you being killed while I am present - while there is breath in my body, Theodora," he snapped.

"Same here," she retorted.

If only he knew just how much she identified with that latter part. She was swinging the sword with both hands now - and although there was barely enough room on the hilt for such handling, it allowed her to move with a bit more precision, rather than just using the weight of the sword to lend momentum to her hapless swinging of it.

"I am a military man, I am trained for this - you are not. You are-"

"If the next words out of your mouth involve my being a woman, I swear to God, James-"

"You are too dear to me," his voice rose, ragged as he called to be heard over the battle and her grumbling both.

Theo froze, something that most decidedly not fear, nor dread, seizing her chest as she stared at him with wide, surprised eyed. Did he mean…? Surely he didn't…? There was a lull in the fighting - or at least in the onslaught towards them in particular - in a stroke of timing that was either incredibly ill or well timed, and he caught her gaze, eyes softening and she was struck with the thought that the very same question was in his mind. She didn't have to see her own face to know the look on hers and the one on his both supplied the same answers.

"I…I…" she stuttered for lack of any ability to string together a coherent sentence.

And then a throwing knife zipped between them, shattering both the window behind them, and whatever traces of a moment there might have been. A skillful jab of James' sword tore apart the spinal column of the next attacker, and Theo managed to deflect the next throwing knife that cut through the night air towards them. She just managed to spot the pirate that was throwing them before Groves came up behind him and took out his legs from beneath him before moving seamlessly on to the next foe who ran at him.

Theo followed his lead - but a split second after James had already done so. They fell into a rhythm from there, the world narrowing down for Theodora to the next immediate blow from the next immediate enemy in any given moment. Perhaps for James, for all of the more seasoned fighters aboard, there would be room for strategy - perhaps, if she survived this, one day she might think much in the same way. But for now she could not, and her method was serving her surprisingly well. Until one of the pirates artfully disarmed her with his own blade.

Judging by the desperate fervour James' fighting reached to her left, he'd noticed - but he couldn't exactly put his own fight on hold, and his opponent knew it, renewing his own fight with a growling laugh. Theo was too preoccupied to care much about being laughed at. Ducking away from her own opponent's first swing, she caught his hand and stepped closer out of instinct, much too close for him to do much damage with the sword he brandished. Once she was close, she seized hold of his collar with one hand, and the ragged cuff of his jacket with her other, bringing her right leg forward, she hooked it behind his own and tried to take him down to the floor.

But, to use Barbossa's words, the moonlight had shown them for what they truly were, and the lack of blood, flesh, and muscle made them deceptively light - much too light for her to use their own bodyweight against them. The pirate was able to keep himself standing easily, just by clinging onto the grip she had on him. Fuck. Bony fingertips scratched and clawed at her skin as she grappled with him. Grunting from the exertion, and from the sting of the scratches, she thought quickly. If she couldn't use the heaviness of his body against him, could she perhaps use its lightness instead? The moment the thought crossed her mind, she knew she had her answer.

Ducking down and out from under his grip, she wrapped her arms around the middle of his thighs, pushing up until his feet left the deck and she was lifting him into the air as he rained fists down upon the back of her neck and shoulders, before quickly yanking him back down, slamming his back into the deck. Knowing she had mere seconds, she jumped to her feet and delivered a strong kick swiftly to the underside of his jaw - freeing his skull from his neck entirely and sending it rattling across the wooden floorboards. And then the rattling stopped. Not because the head had stopped rolling, but because it was no longer just a skull. It had flesh - it had a face. It was human. Mortal.

On instinct, Theo took a few stumbling steps backwards from the headless corpse on the ground before her, blood that appeared black in the moonlight pooling rapidly around the spot where its head should have been. The sounds of the battle lurched to a very sudden stop, and as she forced her eyes up and away from the body, she spotted several of the members of Barbossa's crew that plagued the ship glancing up at the full moon entirely unobstructed by cloud, before down at their own incredibly non-skeletal hands.

It was over. It was done. And it was that thought that allowed her body to begin complaining. The adrenaline had left her legs tired and weak, as well as leaving a tremor in her hands. A killer migraine was beginning to take root in her skull, her arms throbbed and ached fiercely from the exertion of heaving a sword much too heavy for her around, to the point where she was certain she couldn't lift a cup of water to her lips if she tried. But she was alive. They both were. It took more concerted effort than it should have to turn her head towards James, only to find him looking right back at her, his eyes and face both far softer than they had any damn right to be given his betrothed status. His sword was still raised, pointed sharply in the direction of the pirates who showed absolutely no enthusiasm towards the prospect of continuing with a fight now that they might actually die. Cowards.

It might've taken a second, it might've taken a minute, but James quickly seemed to realise that hers was not the only gaze fixed upon him about the ship, his men having turned to him, waiting for his next order. He faltered, cleared his throat, and then he straightened just a little more.

"The ship is ours, gentlemen," he announced.

Christ, she'd forgotten about the huzzahs. She stared blankly about the ship as they broke out, thinking dumbly to herself 'I'm too Irish for this shit' as the men all cried out their celebrations. James didn't join in, though, turning and unlooping the fabric from the door handles to the captain's quarters easily now he could afford to give it his full attention, right in time for the governor to emerge. He shook James' hand with great enthusiasm before striding out into the fray, cheering as though he'd been part of the battle the whole time. Barely able to muster more than a weary laugh, Theo slipped past him, and past James, into the quarters.

She retreated straight for the far side of the room, out of sight of the broken windows, not wanting anybody to spot her to try to make conversation, or celebrate, or enquire as to her wellbeing. She just wanted to be alone - to recover, to think, to wallow-

"Theodora."

Ah. Over the racing of her own thoughts, she hadn't been aware of James following her in - not until he called after her, and then clicked the door shut behind him. Sighing, she raked a hand through her hair as she spun to face him.

"Look, James, I really don't have the energy for a scolding right now so can we ju…" she trailed off upon actually looking at him, because he was close, and he didn't look angry.

No, that soft look was back on his face, one that was dangerously similar to the one that had overtaken his features upon Elizabeth's acceptance of his proposal. He stepped closer still, and Theo did not step back. Partially because she wasn't sure exactly what he was doing, but mostly because she didn't want to put any distance between the two of them. So she simply watched him - knowing that any second now, he'd remember himself, mutter some excuse, and rush off outside to attend to his duties. To do what he was supposed to do. Instead, he stepped forward still, which put so little room between the two of them that even just a deep breath in would close whatever gap still remained.

It occurred to her then what he was doing. This wouldn't be like last time where they both convinced themselves they'd somehow taken advantage of the other - that the other didn't want…this. He was giving her a chance to back away, or to make a joke, something. Instead, she tilted her chin upwards, just slightly. And that was all it took.

Closing the gap entirely, James kissed her like he could help it no more than he could help breathing or blinking. The first was chaste, probably even by this century's standards - but maybe it was the time, the fatigue, the entire situation, or maybe it was the man, because it threatened to knock her off of her feet all the same. When he pulled back her heart sank - for this would be it. This would be the moment where he ran off and they reverted to awkwardly pretending this had never happened at all. But he barely pulled back at all - their noses still brushed, and he made no attempt to shrug away the hand she didn't even remember placing on his shoulder to anchor herself.

"Theodora…" he murmured - his already deep voice impossibly deeper with unhidden desire.

From a man as buttoned up as James, that alone threatened to drive her mad. Another offer to let her back away, then? Doing that would've been the smart thing, probably. But she had no intention of taking him up on the offer.

Instead, she pressed forward now, closing the gap between them for another kiss - their second (or third, if the one back in Port Royal counted). This one was not quite as chaste. Apparently clear reassurance that she wanted this too was all James needed, for he renewed his efforts with a passion that robbed her lungs of air entirely, one hand coming up to cup the side of her face as his lips moved over her own with an artfulness she hadn't expected from one so prim and proper - but one that thrilled her all the same. James Norrington, you dark horse, you.

His hat kept getting in the way - jostling and knocking her on the head until he finally had enough and all but ripped it from his head, discarding it without a care before his free hand came to rest at her hip. Theo felt like she physically could not possibly get close enough to him in that moment, the hand that rest at his shoulder reaching up to slide around to the back of his neck so that she might pull herself against him, returning his passion with everything she'd been bottling up, not even having the presence of mind to be embarrassed by the pathetic little whimper that sounded in the back of her throat when his tongue brushed across her lower lip, his thumb mimicking the movement as it caressed her cheek.

"Commodore?"

A knock sounded at the door and they sprung apart like shrapnel. Theo turned her back to the door on instinct, hand trembling as her fingertips rose to dab at her lips of their own volition as if to check that she wasn't making it all up. James moved just as quickly, swiping up his hat from the floor.

"Yes?"

"We've eyes on Turner, sir - he's rowing in our direction now," it was Gillette at the door, giving Theo another reason to dislike him "Sparrow and Miss Swann appear to be with him."

"I see. I'll attend to that in a moment," he responded flatly.

Theo half-walked, half-staggered to the bed, all but falling down onto it. Much to her surprise, rather than make a hasty exit, James followed and sat down slowly beside her.

"I should go," he said quietly, while making no move to do so.

"You have to," she echoed softly in agreement.

The side of his hand brushed hers. She didn't move her own away.

"There's much to see to. Much to…to straighten out."

Theo stilled. Now what did that mean? Did he…? No. But could he mean? She kept her eyes fixed on the floor, not daring to look at him. Not daring to hope. But she did move her hand just slightly so that it was pressed against his all the more. Only when they heard the orders being cried outside for the skiff to be hauled up did he sigh heavily and rise to his feet. But when he left, Theo followed, her mind still racing at the implication of his words.

"Ah, Commodore Norrington, there you are - is Miss Byrne quite well?" Governor Swann greeted as they stepped into the night air.

The only pirate in sight was Jack - the rest must've been herded off to the brig already. Elizabeth was helped out of the skiff first by Groves, then Will hopped out, and finally Jack, who was immediately seized about the upper arms by two soldiers. He seemed largely unfazed by that - if anything, more bothered by how another started to make quick work of divesting him of his treasure. His eyes scanned about the deck, and finally landed on her own. There was a question there, and he didn't need to voice it for her to know what he was asking. It was a question she knew she'd have to get used to around those who knew of the nature of her knowledge. Is this all according to plan? Thankfully, it was one that could be answered with a nod.

It was a nod James noticed, too, for she saw the look he gave in response to it - one that was exasperated. But then weariness took its place, and she knew he liked what he was bound by law to do no more than Elizabeth or Will liked it.

"Put him in the brig," he said dully before hesitating "…In a separate cell from the others. We've seen enough death here for one night."

Jack's lips pursed before he seemed to remember his commitment to humour at all times, which was when he forced a strained grin and said "Ah, the luxury suite - much obliged, Commodore."

Joking or not - pirate code or not - it was plain for Theo to see that his crew's apparent abandonment stung him. Or maybe it was just the loss of the Pearl once again. Whether she was here to reassure him or not, she knew full well she wouldn't find her own presence much reassurance were she in Jack's boots. It was the only explanation for how he allowed himself to be led away with neither incident, nor much bullshitting on the way. She also wasn't blind to how James turned back to her as if to check her reaction to this turn of events. There was none she could offer other than tiredness.

"Well. I think it's high time we turned home," the governor was the one who tried to lift the mood, having slung his frock coat about Elizabeth's shoulders "We have much to see to - a wedding to plan."

Will hung his head, Elizabeth looked uncomfortable, and Theo looked to James, wondering if he would make good on his earlier suggestion. He was still looking at her, and then his brow knitted into a frown. An incredibly sad frown. Oh. She watched as the frown gave way to resignation, before his face became that oh-so-practised expressionless mask. Somehow that cut deeper than the frown.

"Yes," he said finally, if not quietly "We do."

It was like being shoved over the edge of a cliff. The way her stomach dropped, and any sense of hope or security vanished. She looked away, feeling pretty ridiculous for the disappointment that ate away at her insides like acid - and incredibly pathetic for the tears that threatened to sting her eyes. It wouldn't happen. She knew it wouldn't happen. But what she also knew now was that when it did not happen, it wouldn't be through any effort of James' to stop it. He wouldn't marry Elizabeth, but only because Elizabeth would not marry him. That was almost, if not just as bad as the marriage actually going ahead. At least so far as her feelings were concerned, and the fact that she now had to stop and question why he'd even fucking bothered to kiss her in the first place, why he'd given a vague suggestion of changing his course, if he was just going to go and do this anyway.

Yeah, the universe could go fuck itself.

A/N: I…yeah. Listen, the reason I started this story was all of the sweet, sweet angst potential. What was I meant to do? End the chapter on a happy note? I'm allergic to that. I'm sorry, guys…and Theo! I will say, though, that there will be an explanation for what he did in the next chapter, so don't raise the pitchforks just yet. James isn't just being fickle for the fun of it - that's not really his style, is it?

Anyway, I really can't emphasise enough how the part of this particular battle in the movie where James gets back to The Dauntless and fires that first shot is just *chef kiss*. It made me feel a lot of things when I was doing my 'research' for this chapter.