Chapter Three: Surprises

"One word, love: curiosity."

"Captain Jack Sparrow."

Elizabeth narrowed her eyes at the sound of his voice and felt the familiar hatred she had for him run through her veins.

"Barbossa." Jack answered back.

"What do you want?" Elizabeth asked, her hand lingering on where she had her sword strapped her waist.

Barbossa turned to her and then let his eyes go a little wide before returning to normal.

"Ah, Miss Swann how nice it is-," he began but Elizabeth cut him off.

"Actually it's Mrs. Elizabeth Sparrow now."

"Sparrow?" he echoed and then smiled. "Isn't that nice? Well, probably not for Mr. Turner, eh?"

Elizabeth rolled her eyes, unaffected by the barb. She had no regrets about her decisions in the past, including leaving Will.

"I've had enough of this wretched small talk, Barbossa. Tell us what you want."

Instead of answering, cannons began to fire and his new crew began to swing aboard, attacking them.

"Bloody hell!" Jack cursed and engaged in a sword fight with two of Barbossa's men at once while shouting orders to his crew that was on deck.

Elizabeth ran below and shouted orders to the crew below deck. Then, she ran to help Jack. When she saw him, he was attacking only one of the two now. She assumed he had disposed of the other.

Taking the back of her sword, she swung it at the back of the man's head and knocked him out cold. Both Jack and Elizabeth picked him up and threw him overboard.

"Good work, love." Jack grinned and attacked the next member of Barbossa's crew that attacked him.

Elizabeth nodded to him and dove back into the chaos that surrounded them. Before she could do anything, she saw a blade swing around and press itself against her throat.

"You're comin' with me, Mrs. Sparrow." It was Barbossa. Elizabeth narrowed her eyes when she heard him say her last name as though he had something foul in his mouth.

She wasn't afraid of him. Not since she'd had more training in combat from Jack. Grinning, she decided it was time to show him just that. In a quick sequence, she jabbed her elbow into his gut and then into his nose.

In his surprise, he let her go. Elizabeth took advantage of his disorientation and kicked him as hard as she could. Barbossa stumbled and hit his back on the ship's railing, groaning and swearing at her all the while trying to wipe the blood off of his face that was streaming from his nose.

"I'm not so defenceless anymore, you foul wretch!" Elizabeth shouted angrily before running to resume helping Jack.

Barbossa was so angry he shook with it. He would not be bested by a woman especially not Jack Sparrow's woman. He would make sure she paid for what she had just done to him.

He made his way towards her, pushing anyone who got in his way. Once he had her in his sights again, he raised his pistol and fired.

"Jack! There's another one right behind-," She never finished her sentence. Jack watched in horror as she dropped like a stone on the ground, a nasty gash along the side her head. Worse, she had been on the steps and was now tumbling down them and right towards his worst enemy.

Barbossa laughed as Elizabeth's unconscious body rolled to lie at his feet. Wasting no time, he picked her up then swung back to his ship.

"We've got what we came for! Return to the ship!" And with that, the rest of Barbossa's crew returned and the ship began to retreat.

"Follow them! They have Elizabeth!" Jack shouted. The crew didn't hesitate at all to follow his orders. In fact, they did it with more vigour than usual. That was no surprise to Jack since they all had grown very fond of her during the first two adventures and even more so over the last year.

Jack gritted his teeth in anger. He was going kill that man, only this time Jack was going to make sure Barbossa stayed dead. There would be no resurrection.

The Captain got even angrier as thought of his unborn child. As if sensing his mood, the crew worked harder still.

Gibbs walked up to Jack and stood next to him, looking just as angry was he was.

"We're keeping up Captain. We'll get her back."

"We bloody well better, Gibbs." Jack growled. "I'm not about to lose two people I love."

Gibbs gave Jack a funny look. "Two people, Captain?"

Jack turned his intense gaze on him. "Elizabeth is with child, Gibbs."

Gibbs's eyes widened in understanding and then narrowed with determination. "We'll catch that rat and save 'em both." And with that, he rejoined the hardworking crew to make sure they didn't lose Barbossa's ship.

Jack watched his crew work themselves to the bone to keep up with the Pearl. It gave him a small comfort to know that they were as determined as him to get Elizabeth back.

Just then a fog thicker than soup covered both Pearls so they were virtually invisible to one another. It swirled around Jack and everyone on board. Soon, they couldn't even see an inch in front of their own faces. The entire ship was consumed by it.

Then, just as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone and so was Barbossa's ship.

Everyone froze in shock. Silence descended on the ship that was so thick you could cut it with a sword.

Jack let out a stream of curses that would even make the most seasoned pirate blush. How had Barbossa done such a trick as this? And more importantly, where had they gone? Jack didn't have answers to either questions, but was going to do everything in his power to find out.

"Don't worry, love we're going to find you." He whispered his words lost in the wind that was slowly picking up.

Meanwhile, Barbossa was grinning, proud of himself. He'd outsmarted Jack Sparrow with simple magic. He was finally getting his revenge on Jack for killing him the first time around.

Elizabeth, as he had expected, was furious.

"What have you done? Where is Jack's ship?"

Barbossa chuckled coldly. "He is still behind us, but can no longer see us."

Elizabeth stared at him, trying to understand what he had told her. "You mean to tell me we're…invisible?"

"Aye, they are unable to see us even though we are right in front of their eyes."

"How did you do such a thing?"

"A magician never reveals his secrets, missy." He grinned again then returned to the wheel to steer the ship in his desired direction.

Elizabeth lunged at him, but was restrained by members of his crew.

"Now, now you won't want to be doin' that. If ye do, I'll let history repeat itself only it'll be me who is sendin' him to the depths."

Elizabeth swallowed hard as she felt the weight of his threat. He knew exactly how much Jack had meant to her back then and how much more he meant to her now.

Thankfully, however, he knew nothing of her unborn child and she vowed to keep it that way. If he did find out, it would serve only to give Barbossa another advantage.

Elizabeth stopped struggling and forced herself to suppress her anger, for now. It would do her no good to be ruled by her emotions when she should be thinking of a way to get escape this dire situation and get back to Jack.

A moment later, she was taken down into the ship and locked in one of the many cabins presumably so she couldn't try to attack the Captain again. Just as well, she thought, it would give her time to think.

This was one of Jack's greatest advantages against his enemies, she realized. He never stopped thinking, scheming, and using every opportunity to his benefit.

That knowledge only made her love her Jack more. With renewed determination, she sat down on the bunk, and racked her brain for ideas.

"Don't worry, Jack," Elizabeth laid a hand on her stomach, "we'll find our way back to you."