Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of POTC. Sadly, they're not mine…
Chapter 2: The Story of the Medallion
Once they were in open sea, Elizabeth relaxed.
"So, where are we heading now?" she asked.
"We need a crew, luv. So, we head to Tortuga"
"Tortuga?" she repeated, unconvinced.
"Tortuga" Jack confirmed.
During the night, Elizabeth kept Jack company, while he was at the wheel. The sky was lit with lots of stars.
"Who would have guessed it, escaping with a pirate" Elizabeth mused aloud, snuggling near Jack. The air was chilly, and she had just a light gown on her. Feeling her shiver, he gave her his coat.
"Well, soon enough you will be with a bunch of pirates, if that makes you feel better" he said.
"We better use this time we are still alone to its best then" she said, flashing him a seductive smile. There was something charming about the man, she had noticed it from the moment she had seen him, and she felt she needed to taste him at least once.
"Luv, I get your hint" he said, pulling her close and claiming her lips. She kissed him back, and a full snogging session ensued.
Jack was already thinking to take things one step further when she broke the kiss.
"What's wrong luv? I'm sure my breath is not so bad…"
She shook her head. "It's not you, it's me" she said. "I'm in love with someone else, it isn't fair to make you believe something that is not going to happen"
He grinned. "It's ok. I'm a pirate after all, so I never have strings attached. Only one night stands, for dear ol' Captain Sparrow" he said, taking a long swig of his bottle of rum.
She looked at him in disgust. "Do you really have to drink that?"
"Aye. Every pirate does, you should start too if you're going to be one of us"
"I'm not drinking rum, thanks" she refused. "So, what do we do once we get the crew?" she asked, to change the subject.
"You've not answered my question about the medallion yet" he pointed out. "But, I'll tell you, it is quite important. There's a ship out there, the Black Pearl it is called, and once I was captain of that ship. But my crew mutinied against me. The important thing, though, is that the medallion you have on your neck is part of the treasure I had sailed to retrieve with that ship. An ancient, Aztec treasure"
"So you want to find that ship and take the rest of the treasure back, right?"
"You're smart, lassie" he said, drinking some more. "I need rum to handle a girl like you"
Next day they finally reached Tortuga, and immediately Jack set searching an old friend of his.
"He'll be able to get us the crew we need" he had assured her. On their way though they met some old "acquaintances" of Jack.
"Scarlet!" he exclaimed, seeing the woman. She, however, said nothing, just went there and slapped him hard.
"I dunno if I deserved that" Jack said to Elizabeth.
Then another woman came.
"Giselle!"
"Who was that woman?" she asked. "And who si the one on your side?" but before either of them could answer, another slap hit Jack hard in the face.
"This one maybe I deserved" he whispered to Elizabeth, who shook her head amused.
Some time later, she got distracted, and lost sight of Jack. Two drunkards started following her, so she quickened her walk, desperately searching for him. But, she felt someone grab her wrist.
"You're pretty beautiful, lass" one of the man slurred, pulling her close. She tried resisting him, but he was much stronger than her, plus the other one was helping him keep her still. When the man's face was near enough, she spit on him.
That made him angry, so that he slapped her hard, making her fall on the street.
The other man picked her up and held her still while the first one started cutting her dress with his cutlass.
Elizabeth wanted to scream, but one hand on her mouth prevented her to do that. So she started crying, thinking she would die there, raped and dirty.
But a known voice came. "What you thinking you're doing?"
"Jack!" she thought. In a flash she saw a dagger make its way to the heart of the one who was trying to get her naked, while the one who held her ran away scared.
"I'm sorry you had to experience that. Tortuga is not safe for a lass who walks alone, especially at night" he said, brushing one tear away. She nodded and clung to him for what seemed an eternity, but was really just few minutes, then he accompanied her to the ship, where they found a dress she could use. Done that, they rowed back to Tortuga.
Finally they found the man they were searching sleeping in the streets, near some pigs.
Jack loaded a bucket with water, then threw it at the man.
"You be damned you son of a …" the man bellowed, taking his knife, just to put it back in his pocket when he saw who had woken him up.
"For all the treasures, Jack. You know it means bad luck to wake up someone who's sleeping!"
"Luckily I know how to repel that. The man who woke the other up offers him to drink. The man who was sleeping listens to the offer of the man who woke him up"
Mr. Gibbs, Elizabeth remembered him from her travel on the Dauntless when she reached Port Royal from England, grinned.
"Aye, that can work"
So they entered a pub, and sat at a table.
"So, what's the matter this time?" Gibbs asked, drinking his rum.
"I'm on the tail of the Pearl" Jack said, and the other man almost spilled the content of his mug.
"What?"
"I know where it is and how to conquer it" he said. Elizabeth was controlling the situation as in the pub there was some havoc created by other sailors.
"From what I know of Barbossa, he's not one to suffer stupid people or make deals with them"
"Then we're lucky I'm not stupid, uh?" Jack said.
"Show me" Gibbs dared him.
"Let's just say it takes the right leverage" Jack ended sipping his rum.
"Ok. I'll find you a crew, there has to be some sailor as crazy as you on this island" Gibbs accepted. The next day they set sail toward the feared and almost impossible to find Isla de Muerta, where the Black Pearl was supposed to be.
But what they did not know was that the Pearl was right on their tail, the crew called from the medallion on Elizabeth's neck.
And, the Pearl was faster. So, that night from the crow's nest the alert came that they were pursued.
"It's the Pearl!" Jack shouted. "Everyone, ready to fight"
But when the battle started, the light of the moon showed that the stories about the crew of the Pearl were not all invented after all. They were undead people, skeletons under the moonlight.
The crew of the Interceptor fought with all their might but to no avail.
Seeing his beloved Pearl hit by the cannons Jack grimaced. "Not this way! You're putting holes in my ship!" he whined.
In the end the Interceptor was sunk, the crew locked in the brig, while Jack and Elizabeth were brought in the captain's cabin.
"So, Jack, we meet again after all" Captain Barbossa said. "I never thought you would escape that island"
Jack grinned. "Aye, mate. You underestimated Captain Jack Sparrow" he said, satisfied.
"Well, now, down to business. Miss, I reckon you have something that is ours" Barbossa said, turning toward Elizabeth. "The medallion, please"
"What if I don't give it to you?" she defiantly said.
"I kill you and take it all the same" Barbossa answered, unfazed. So she had no choice but to give it to him.
"Now that I've got it, we have enough time before reaching Isla de Muerta for a little story on this medallion. See, Miss, probably Jack told you about this being part of an Aztec treasure, right?"
She nodded.
"Well, what he didn't know, and we didn't too till much later, is that the treasure was cursed, to punish Cortez's avidity. So we took it, and spent it, but what we bought gave us no pleasure. Drinks and food meant nothing, as well as good companies, if you get my hint. We slowly realized we had been cursed for our actions. The moon, as you were able to see, reveals us for what we really are. Not alive, but not dead either"
He stopped a moment, mostly for dramatic effect.
"But now, now we have hope again. We just need to bring this back to the chest and add a blood price to it, and we will nullify the curse. So, now, what's your name, my dear?"
"Elizabeth…Turner" she said. Jack looked at her surprised but said nothing.
"Probably she has a plan" he thought.
But she didn't. And her giving Barbossa that name could just be the end of them both.