Chapter Seven
Hell Hath no Fury

Arlen and Li were a little disappointed when Will began to state his terms. For one thing, they weren't mentioned in any of them. For another thing, he wasn't very good at negotiating. He just gave away their ace within two minutes of getting on deck and started asking all the wrong things.

"Elizabeth goes free."

"Yes, Will, we all know that one." The girls grumbled. Barbossa shot a brief glare at them; apparently he thought that was his line.

"Anything else?" He asked.

Jack pointed frantically to himself and the girls.

"And the crew. They are not to be harmed."

Barbossa smiled, a glint in his eye, and said "Agreed."

There was a commotion as the crew went about the commands, and in that noise the girls began to sneak away. They didn't get very far before Barbossa caught Arlen.

"Let me go!" She shrieked, attacking him.

"And what of this one, William Turner son of Bootstrap Bill? Is she not to be harmed?"

Arlen bit the hand over her mouth, causing Barbossa to swear and push her into the arms of the nearest pirate.

"She goes too!"

"Goes where?" Will asked, confused.

Jack seized Li and pushed her back amongst the crew. "You'll be safe here. Please, stay."

It was then that she noticed Elizabeth was being forced towards the plank.

"Barbossa, you lying bastard!" Will shouted just before he was gagged.

"Don't dare impugn my honor, boy! I agreed she'd go free but it was you who failed to specify when or where." He chuckled. "Though it does seem a shame to lose something so fine, don't it lads?"

Elizabeth hesitated on the plank even after they'd forced her to give up the dress. Then the big black man stepped on it, causing her to fall into the water.

"Well, lass, what will you do?" Barbossa smiled at her. "Will you plead for my mercy, or will you act like the Starre you are?"

Arlen looked to him with unmistakable defiance in her eyes, took a running start and leapt off of the plank.

Next Jack was pushed over to the long wooden board, a nervous look on his face.

"I'd really rather hoped we were past all this."

"Jack, Jack," Barbossa smiled, putting a companionable arm around Jack's shoulders. "Didn't you notice? That be the same little island we made you governor of on our last little trip."

"I had noticed."

"Perhaps you'll be able to conjure up another miraculous escape. But I doubt it." He leveled his sword at his old captain's throat, ready to be rid of the damned man once and for all. "Off you go."

"Last time you left me a pistol, with one shot." Jack negotiated quickly.

"By the powers, you're right! Where be Jack's pistol? Bring it forward."

"Seeing as there's three of us, a gentleman would give us at least a pair of pistols." Jack winced, praying it would work.

"It'll be one pistol as before, and you get the task of choosing which lady to shoot before starving to death yourself."

With that, he tossed the pistol over the side, leaving Jack to dive down after it. He swam with it clenched in his hands, his heart clenched tight around hate at the same time. When he reached the beach, Arlen and Elizabeth were already standing there.

"That's the second time I've had to watch that man sail away with my ship." He sighed. Well, no use crying over spilt milk. Moments later he hauled himself to his feet and started walking away. Bewildered, Arlen and Elizabeth followed.

"But you were marooned on this island before. We can escape in the same way you did then."

"To what point and purpose, young missy?" Jack growled. "Unless you have a rudder and a lot of sails hidden in that bodice," He checked the item in question briefly. "Unlikely, then young Mr. Turner will be dead long before you can reach him."

Arlen glanced down her own top. "I could get away with the whole rudder and sails thing."

Elizabeth glared at her, then resumed following Jack. He was doing some bizzarre sort of dance through the small forest of palm trees.

"But you're Captain Jack Sparrow. You vanished from under the eyes of seven agents of the East India Comapny. You sacked Nassau Port without even firing a shot. Are you the pirate I've read about or not? How did you escape last time?"

"Well, for one thing, it was three agents and not seven," Arlen began. "And he only did it because there was a hole in the bloody wall. And he only sacked Nassau because he bribed the garrison there. Most of the time he was just in the right place at the right time."

Jack glared at Arlen, feeling a bit peeved at having his secrets dispelled. Then he sighed and looked to Elizabeth again. "Last time, I was here a grand total of three days. The rumrunners used this island as a cache." He opened a door beneath the sand to demonstrate. "They came by and I was able to barter passage off. By the looks of things, they've long been out of business. You probably have your bloody friend Norrington to thank for that." He crawled back out of the hole, bringing with him two bottles of rum.

"So that's it then. That's the grand adventure of the infamous Jack Sparrow. You spent three days lying on a beach drinking rum."

"Welcome to the Caribbean, love." Jack smiled, handing her a bottle and sauntering off to drink himself into a stupor, which was the only state in which his mind actually worked.

As Elizabeth glared after him, Arlen sidled up to her.

"Do you have an idea? After all, he did insult us both. He insulted your breasts and me by not giving me rum. Let's get back at him."

Elizabeth nodded slowly. "Just don't do anything stupid, alright?"

"Why is everyone always saying that around me?" Arlen cried, following her nonetheless.

-x-

"We're devils, we're black sheep, we're really bad eggs, drink up me hearties yo ho! Yo ho, yo ho a pirate's life for me"

"I love this song!" Jack crowed. "And really bad eggs! When I get the Pearl back, I'm gonna teach the whole crew this song!"

"As long as they don't learn it tonedeaf like you did, we all survive." Arlen grumbled. She was a few feet away, tied to a tree, having absolutely no fun ay all.

"And you shall be positively the fiercest pirates in the Spanish Main!" Elizabeth crowed. Arlen had to admit, she was a good actress.

"Not just the Spanish Main, love. The entire ocean. The whole world. Wherever we want to go, weíll go. That's what a ship is, really. It's not just a keel and hold and a deck and sails. That's what a ship needs. But what a ship is- what the Black Pearl really is -is freedom."

"It must be terrible for you to be trapped here, Jack." Elizabeth sighed, leaning on Jack.

"She ISN'T." Arlen growled to herself. "Oh, I am so telling Will about this."

"Well, the company is infintely better than last time. The scenery has definitely improved. "Jack said, slyly putting his arm around Elizabeth.

"Mr. Sparrow, I'm not entirely sure I've had enough rum to allow that kind of talk." Elizabeth smiled, pulling away.

"I know exactly what you mean." Jack grinned back, smoothing his mustache. Arlen tried her best to kill herself by hitting her head on the tree, which failed.

"To freedom." She raised her bottle.

"To the Black Pearl." Jack amended, raising his bottle and drinking so deep and so fast he fell down and didn't rise.

"Damn, woman." Arlen whistled as ELizabeth untied her. "I couldn't have done it better myself. I don't see why this whole tying up thing was necessary."

"It was necessary because you would've taken all the rum and probably attempted to actually kiss Jack." Elizabeth said, tossing the rope into the fire. "Now hurry. Who knows when he'll wake up?"

-x-

When Jack did wake up, he thought he was in a nightmare, or in hell. There was smoke all around him and the beautiful woman he remembered from last night was nowhere to be found. When he managed to stand up, he was absolutely certain he was in hell.

"No! No! Not good! You've burned the good, the shade, the rum!'

"Yes, the rum is gone." Elizabeth said harshly. Arlen was honestly starting to take Jack's side in this whole thing. She stood by the fire, wincing as she threw things into the fire and asked the pirate gods for forgiveness.

"But why is the rum gone?"

"One, it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable men into complete scoundrels. Two, that signal is over a thousand feet high. The entire royal Navy is out looking for me. Do you think there's even the slightest chance they won't notice it?"

"...but why is the rum gone?"

"Just you wait Mr. Sparrow. An hour or two, keep a weather eye out, and you'll see sails on that horizon."

Jack took out the pistol and aimed it at Elizabeth, then remembered the man who had got them here in the first place and put it away, storming off.

"Oh, it must've been terrible for you to be trapped here Jack, must've been terrible- WELL IT BLOODY WELL IS NOW!" He had a headache and to top it off he had no idea what he;d done to anger two women so royally. He still didn't understand why Arlen went along with it.

Of course, that was when he saw the sails on the horizon.

"There'll be no living with them after this."

A/N: Another chapter done. Please make a comment any comment at least a nice comment. Another chapter will be on its way. Pirates honor.