2. A Scallywag Like Jack

Strange events brought us here, thought Gibbs, watching the lass Elizabeth as she stood at the prow of the Black Pearl. He'd thought himself in a dream when she first appeared before his cell in Port Royale, brandishing a set of keys she'd squirreled away from somewhere.

"What are ye doing?" I asked, watching her unlock the door, utterly surprised. "Freeing you and the crew," she answered shortly, jerking open the cell door.

"Why?" I quickly stepped out, seeing no reason to protest being freed.

"Because we're going to take back the Pearl," she answered matter of factly. Since Norrington captured the Black Pearl and its crew, again, the beauty of a ship had sat anchored in the harbor of Port Royal, her black sails drawn in, waiting to be used on the high seas again.

"Right¾we?"

"You don't think I'll let you go save Jack alone, do you?"

There was a certain look of determination in her eyes, strangely, that he recognized too often be on the face of Jack himself. It was so raw, so fierce, that he felt utterly assured in a moment that all their goals would somehow be realized.

So after breaking from jail, under the cover of darkness in a moonless night, they broke the Pearl from her fetters, and ran for deeper water. Gibbs acted as Captain, Ms. Swan had not the technical knowledge to govern the ship. However, it was she who gave orders of direction. Commodore Norrinton wanted little chance for the legendary Pirate Jack Sparrow to escape again, and death seemed far too good for him. It was a special prison for ol' Jack this time, on the Island of Lost Souls, an awful prison island.

Somewhere along the line, Elizabeth had come into possession of Jack's strange compass, that never pointed north. Gibbs assumed it had somehow fallen into Norrinton's hands, and by some persuasion on her part, nextly Elizabeth's. The location of the Island of Lost Souls was one of the Carribean's best kept secrets, but with that compass Elizabeth provided a heading for them to follow.

"Why didn't Will come with you?" inquired Gibbs. "He's a lad seemingly always ready for an adventure."

"Will had no interest in freeing a pirate from jail, and incurring the wrath of her Majesty's Royal Navy." Elizabeth said, quite bitterly. "It's not suitable for a quiet life," she mimicked, making a face as she did so.

Gibbs knew it must be a sensitive topic, but his curiosity won out anyway. "Would I be right to be assuming you're not to marry young Will anymore?"

"Who's to say, Gibbs? Nothing seems certain anymore." Her eyes seemed so sad at that moment, held so much weight, that it even hurt Gibb's old sea dog heart to see. What could be causin' a girl so young so much pain? He had a feelin' he already knew, and she wouldn't be the first to feel a broken heart for ol' Jack Sparrow. What puzzled him was that Ms. Swann wasn't your everyday lass of flighty fancy; she knew exactly how Jack was. More interesting yet, in some ways, she was like him, or at least on her way.

"Ay, and it only gets worse with age lass. But why leave a perfectly homey life with a fiance who loves ye, to save a scallywag like Jack Sparrow?" Elizabeth could hear the unsaid implication. Why leave a life of security for a man who can only really love the sea? She had no logical answer, only that she felt in her heart it was what she must do.

Raising an eyebrow, Elizabeth turned back to look over the blue ocean waves. "Let us just say I feel I owe the Captain a debt."

Gibbs found this interesting. Apparently she'd had something to do with Jack staying behind on the Pearl before the Kraken devoured it, and him, but all that seemed to be square after the intense role she had to play in getting him back at the World's End. Almost died herself she did, getting him back from the land of the dead. What could possibly be left?

"And what debt could that be?" asked Gibbs, unable to contain his curiosity.

"That is between the Captain and I," Elizabeth answered sharply. Questions and uncertainty hung over her head with Jack Sparrow. That, and the guilt of he and his crew's capture. She didn't know what exactly he'd promised the crew to sail back to Port Royale. Treasure, probably, or some component leading to it. A map, a key. But she knew the truth.

The only reason Captain Jack Sparrow dared return to Port Royale was for her.