A/N: Okay, so the last chappie's summary is basically that Barbossa found Jack, Jones has been slaughtered by James Norrington, who has returned from Lord Beckett's clutch and Jack has partially faced Will. I hope this chappie will be enough to sustain your interests…that may be hard after so much that happened in the last chappie! XD
Disclaimer: Yada yada yada…bla bla bla…don't own it…gotcha…nope, not mine at all…except for a few small details….hmm, like the entire PLOT! XD lol
-/-/- Will -/-/-
Will stared coldly into Jack's eyes. After dreading the moment for so long it had finally come and he was face to face with his worst enemy, even if Jack didn't know he was the enemy. He saw the faint and brief look of worry course through Jack's eyes when Will mentioned the words 'Elizabeth' and 'dying' in the same sentence. It pained him in jealousy. How dare Jack even think about loving Elizabeth the slightest bit! He didn't deserve her one bit. He had nothing to offer her, except maybe rum and an enchanted compass. Jack spoke, not even hinting that he noticed the slightest bit of contempt from the man in front of him. "Under deck? So Elizabeth is under the deck of a…" here he paused to look over the ship, "…a commandeered ship that you stole from Tortuga in hoped of finding me?" Will raised an eyebrow in an annoyed manner, not in the mood for Jack's interesting way of thinking things out. "Yeah, that's just about it." Jack nodded, moving his lips in a circular motion. "And she is…dying under the deck of the ship in which you commandeered in hoped of finding me?" Will rolled his eyes and nodded.
James walked forward, also a bit irritated at the Captain's sudden interest in Elizabeth. "Oh, just go down to her before you get all mushy about it." Obviously Norrington had said the wrong thing for all the men on the ship turned to look at Jack in an awed way. He only grinned, tapping his fingers together, and took a few sidesteps, towards the stairs leading under deck, and then bolted down to avoid the uncomfortable gazes that were being thrown at him. Will looked after the pirate as he nearly stumbled down the stairs in a rushed maneuver of steps. He wanted to go and never let Jack see Elizabeth again, but then she would die and he knew it. He sighed, leapt off of the rum barrel he had been perched on, and walked towards the bow of the ship to look out at the sun's pattern on the waves as they rolled by in a slow, peaceful rhythm,
-/-/- Jack -/-/-
Jack suppressed a relieved sigh as he faltered down the stairs which always seemed to be in the way. The sight of everyone staring at him replayed through his mind and he grimaced. Couldn't a pirate fall for a girl without being thought of as a sap? He supposed that most people just never thought that he of all the pirates could be the one to fall in love.
When he reached the bottom of the stairs he stopped to regain control of his steps and brushed his coat off, suddenly realizing how cold he still was. He had almost forgotten why he had come down here in the first place when his eyes began roaming around the room and locked on the nearly limp figure of a body that appeared to be tortured by heat. His jaw slightly dropped as he realized Will hadn't been lying about Elizabeth dying. All other thoughts flooded away into nothingness as he slowly approached the sleeping woman in distress.
His eyes lost all trace of his usual humorous sense and turned to a look of seriousness and worry, lots of worry. Automatically his right hand moved out towards Elizabeth and was placed on her chest where he could feel the very slow rising and falling motion of her breathing. He removed it after realizing just how bad her condition really was. He placed the same hand on her forehead and he tried as hard as he could not to jerk it away as the heat radiated through his palm in a way so painful he just couldn't bear it. Slowly he removed it and sighed. He gazed at Elizabeth's expressionless face as she lay unconscious. He had never felt so much pain before, seeing her like this. She was dying right before him, yet he could do nothing. As he gazed he noticed that her eyelashes flickered for a split second and hope soared through him as he watched on intently. Slowly her eyes opened until they were narrow slits in which blood streaks covered every part of them as they gazed up into Jack's own eyes. As their gazes locked the longing spark overtook Jack and he could only be depressed when Elizabeth suddenly lost her energy and her eyes shut closed again. Jack sighed and took her hand in his own. "I'm here…I'm here." He felt the slightest bit of pressure from her hand as he held it, and knew that just being with Elizabeth seemed to help her more than any amount of cool rags, or a certain young man ever did.
-/-/- Elizabeth -/-/-
Elizabeth walked down a path that lit up as she walked down it and the rest was swallowed in complete darkness. She was lost in a place of oblivion where nothing existed and what did would last not long in this sort of place. With every passing moment the darkness seemed to suck more and more of her energy away until she was sure she would drop down and die. She wanted to give up so badly because of the pain it caused her.
But suddenly a world of light flashed around her and she blinked in shock. She looked around and found that she was in a familiar looking area, and a very familiar face was looking at her. She wanted to reach out to the face, for it gave her hope and the darkness had stopped sucking away her energy. This face brought her comfort and strength. She found a reason to keep trying, to not give up. This face was not like all the others. And when she heard the voice it composed it was different. Most of the voices she had been hearing had no meaning what so ever. They had no hope in them for her. But upon hearing this voice she could tell this voice hoped for her, cared for her in a way no other ever could. This voice was her reason to live, and she knew it.
But just when she was sure she would escape the dark interior of her empty mind, the darkness started fading back in the corners of her precious vision. The face was fading away and she needed the face, she needed it to live! How could she go on if the darkness continued to continue? The darkness finally overtook all of her vision and she was lost once again in the world of hopeless doubt. But then she felt something at her side. The pressure of loving touch sent joy through her mind as she wandered endlessly in a world she had been so sure she could never escape. But this hand gave her hope. True, she couldn't survive in the dark world that her mind had created for her much longer, but now that her comfort, her reason, had been found, she could make it. She had to make it, for the reason.
-/-/- Jack -/-/-
After an hour of clutching Elizabeth's hand he decided he needed to go and help out on deck. He had to tear his eyes away from her as he walked up the stairs. On deck the crew was just standing around and chatting, as if they had been waiting for something. When he stepped on deck, everyone stared at Jack again. He grinned and looked around. Suddenly a fairly large figure stood in front of him. Jack smiled as Barbossa grinned at him expectantly. "So, Captain, what are your orders?" Jack looked around at everyone and decided that he needed to get Elizabeth to a doctor, but not exactly reveal why to anyone. "Well, I suppose Mr. Turner will be needing to get back to Port Royal…." Barbossa raised an eyebrow. "What are your instructions on the subject of Ms. Swann?" Jack grinned, showing his teeth, and quickly closed his mouth again. "Well…she is in urgent need of a doctor…which can be found in Port Royal." Will's masculine figure appeared and he objected. "Captain Sparrow, if you take us to Port Royal you will be arrested, along with myself, Ms. Swann, and Mr. Norrington by a certain man who goes by the name of Lord Beckett." Jack frowned, his plan ruined. He had completely forgotten about the authorities. He could take them to Tortuga, but there was most likely not a sober doctor in that city at all. Then the idea sprang to mind. "Ah, well…we don't have a destination for now. Hoist anchors!" Barbossa raised another eyebrow. Jack grinned, "Hoist anchors meaning…drop them…into the…water…for goodness sakes men! We're staying here tonight!" Barbossa had a wave of under standing overtake him and the crew broke into action. Jack smiled. Now, he had a lady to save.