Disclaimer: Nope, I don't own the characters. It's a shame, if you ask me, but I don't.
A/N: Don't know if you'll like this, but this is the chapter I was waiting to write since I started the story...lol. If you read, please review!
Chapter 6: Locket Effects No More
After celebrating the whole night, the crew took a couple of days of well deserved rest. Will wanted to leave straightaway, but in his heart he knew the men deserved some rest. The trip back to Port Royal was long and dangerous, and he had not the courage to ask them to set sail immediately.
So, he went along with it, and right they did, because the journey back was a rocky one. If on the first time they met just one storm, this time they had to face four violent ones, and it was a miracle the Pearl passed unscathed through all of them, without losing even a single man in the sea.
As they neared the Jamaica coasts, Will stopped checking the compass, and gave it back to Jack. If he had held it till the end of the journey, he would have seen something interesting in it. However, he didn't, so they reached Port Royal. They anchored the ship quite far from the coast, to not be recognized, after all Jack was still wanted there, and then Gibbs, as he was not wanted, and Will took a boat and rowed to the land.
Once there, Will went straight to the Governor's residence. Knocking on the door, he was welcomed by one of the servants.
"Hi, Mr. Turner" she said. "What brings you here after such a long time?"
"Is Miss Swann here?" he asked, toying with the Eye in his pocket.
The servant shook her head. "Miss Swann is out on the Caribbean with her husband-to-be, the Commodore. They left a week ago to go to Guadeloupe and the islands around that, and are scheduled to come back in two weeks more or less. Why were you searching her?"
"It's not important" Will whispered. The servant nodded, and closed the door.
"So, what are we going to do now, lad?" Gibbs asked, a bit nervous to be on land in the town that despised pirates probably more than any other one in the whole Caribbean Sea.
"I don't know. I guess we better go back to the Pearl, and ask Jack what he thinks about it"
So they did, and when the boat was lifted on the ship, Jack wondered what the hell was Will doing there.
"Will, lad, I know sea can be fascinating, but we didn't do all that sailing just to have you come back so soon, and without Elizabeth" he said.
"She's not here" Will said, then motioned for Jack to follow him in the captain's cabin.
Ana Maria and Gibbs went too.
"So you tell me she's on a sort of vacation with the Commodore, like an honeymoon but before the wedding, uh?"
"Honeymoon?" Will said disgusted. Thinking of it, it could be seen as an anticipate honeymoon. He shook his head. He would not think about the two of them married. He wouldn't.
"Well, lad, there's only one thing we can do. We set sail on their tail" Jack said. Will looked at him like he was mad. Well, he probably was, but more mad than usual.
"Unless you want to wait here two weeks for them to return, of course"
"No way! I'm not gonna wait for them!" Will determinedly said.
"Well, we go to Guadeloupe then. Ana Maria, Gibbs, you know how to do that, right?"
"Of course captain" they replied, and left to move the ship on their next route.
"Now that we are alone, Will, what do you plan to do once we've caught up with them?"
"I sneak in, find the locket and smash it with the Eye like Tia Dalma told us. Then I wait for her in her cabin, and we will talk…from there, I dunno. It depends on too many things, I can't plan that. I guess if it goes well, me and her could commandeer the ship and go back to Port Royal. If not…I don't want to think about it"
"Well, it's as messy a plan as I've seen one, lad, but I like it. More mixed up it is, bigger is the chance your enemy gets confused by it too" Jack grinned, taking a swig from his rum.
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In the meantime, on the Caribbean, the engaged couple was savouring the spectacular weather provided by Guadeloupe. They had passed all day on a secluded beach, cuddling and doing every kind of thing a couple going to be married soon does.
Commodore Norrington was beaming, now, sitting on the deck of the ship, looking at the wonderful sunset, an arm draped around her shoulders, while she let him pull her close.
"Wonderful evening, isn't it, love?" he said, caressing her hair. God, how long had he dreamed of being that way with her. And now he was going to succeed, thanks to Lord Beckett's plan. He just hoped the magic of the locket would be strong enough to make her forgive him when he would have to invent some reason to bring her father in jail and make Beckett governor.
"Not time to think about that" he chastised himself, trying not to ruin the mood.
Then he moved to claim her lips, and she was more than eager to kiss him back, although something in her head told her his kisses were far worse than Will's ones.
"I'm going mad. Like I would ever know how that low excuse of a man kisses" she thought, before giving in even more to the Commodore's attentions.
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Three days later, the Pearl started spotting the Caribbean.
"It's your moment, lad. Remember that if we don't see you bringing here that ship in a day, we're coming to help you" Jack said, hugging him before letting him go.
Will made sure the Eye was safe in his pocket, and then jumped in the water. From there, swimming to the Caribbean without being spotted was probably the hardest part of his plan. If he were to be seen, the Commodore would surely lock him in the brig, and Elizabeth would surely not help him out of there.
Luckily, he had inherited not only pirate blood from his father but a good apnoea resistance too, so he managed to get to the ship unseen. Then he climbed on it from the stern, like he had done with Jack when they had boarded on the Dauntless.
Once on board, he carefully hid, and holding his sword ready to be extracted, moved silently toward the cabins.
A guard was just inches from spotting him, but he threw a piece of something he had in the pocket in the water on the other side of the ship, effectively distracting the man. So he managed to snuck into the cabins area.
"I guess the Pearl would not have problems in keeping up and even overtaking this one" he thought. "It's so big it must weight at least twice Jack's ship"
Looking around warily, he tried to guess which cabin was Elizabeth's. He tried entering in one, but as soon as he did he noticed it was of a man. He heard steps coming, so Will ducked under the bed.
"Perfect" he thought, when he saw who was the man. "Of all the cabins I could end into, I had to pick Norrington's one, of course" he rolled his eyes.
However, staying quiet and still, he succeeded in not being spotted. Once the man was gone again, Will released his breath, and exited his hiding. Leaving the cabin cautiously, he opened another one.
"That's it" he thought, noticing one of Elizabeth's dresses on a chair. He started searching for the locket, but to no avail.
"Go figure. Surely she has it on her" he cursed, and hid the best he could in there.
An hour passed, and he was growing nervous, when the door opened. He saw Norrington give Elizabeth a quick peck on the lips and his blood started to boil.
"Focus, Will, focus, and in a few minutes you'll be able to wipe that smug grin off his face" he thought. Then he waited for her to close the door, and although it pained him to the heart to threaten her, he extracted his sword and pointed it at her throat.
"Oh. Mr. Turner" she spitefully said. Will cringed at her tone, but didn't let it show. "Give me your locket, Miss Swann, and I'll go as silent as I've come"
"My locket, uh?" she said. "Very well then" she moved like she wanted to take it off, but instead in a flash her own sword was drawn out.
Will sighed. "Elizabeth, put away that sword. You can't beat me, you know that"
She stubbornly attacked him, and he must admit he had taught her well, because duelling with her was not easy. It was made worse by his fear of hurting her. However, after at least ten minutes, he managed to disarm Elizabeth. "Now, please, give me the locket"
She glared at him, but did that all the same.
As soon as he had it in his hand, he took the Eye from his pocket and smashed it on the ruby in the locket's centre.
It was destroyed, and Elizabeth looked at the scene in horror. Will looked at her hopefully, but was giving up hope seeing her expression wouldn't change.
Some excruciatingly slow seconds passed, before she shook her head and looked around.
"Will?" she asked, surprised. He released his breath. "Yes, it's me"
"Where am I?"
It was clear she didn't remember a thing about the time she'd been under the locket's influence.
"You're on the Caribbean, ship of the Royal Navy, and you're here because you were doing a pre-wedding holiday with your fiancé, Commodore Norrington" he said.
"What? Norrington?" she said, shocked.
Will sighed, and explained her all what had happened, about the locket, their voyage to retrieve the Dragon's Eye, and so on.
"Oh my. Now I remember everything. I treated you so badly, Will, I'm so sorry" she said, through tears that started to flow. He hugged her close, and rocked her to make her stop crying.
"Shh, it's all in the past now"
She sobbed loudly, and he gently caressed her hair. She eagerly snuggled in his embrace, and they fell asleep that way. Not really a prudent thing to do, but neither cared. Now that they had found each other again, no one of them cared if they would be locked in the brig or something.
Plus, Will knew that if in a day time he wasn't going to lead the ship to the appointment with the Pearl, Jack would intervene in their help.
So, this is how Commodore Norrington found them the next morning, and he was fuming. Both woke up abruptly when they felt they were being dragged away.
"So nice of you to show up, Mr. Turner. I don't know what lies you've been feeding to my wife-to-be…" Elizabeth snorted.
"If you think I'll marry you you're a fool, James Norrington. And I'll have you arrested as soon as we get back to Port Royal"
"Ah, but this where you are wrong, Miss Swann" Norrington smirked. "It's you who is going to be arrested if you don't marry me, along with your beloved blacksmith and your father too"
Elizabeth gasped. Her father! They were planning something against him too!
Will took her hand in his own, and comforted her as he could. He just hoped Jack would keep his promise. He could feel the ship moving, and if the Pearl lost sight of them, they would be in great trouble.
But not even three hours later, the first cannonballs started hitting the Caribbean. They had spotted the Pearl and tried getting away, but the speed difference was too big. Soon later, Will and Elizabeth heard the crew boarding and in an hour the ship was conquered.
Jack went to free them, and locked Norrington in the brig in their place.
The two ships set sail, one near the other, toward Port Royal. When they arrived, though, Beckett had already started his plan. The soldiers had rebelled against the Governor, and were keeping him prisoner in his residence. The cannons in the fort started firing against the two ships, but the Pearl quickly and effectively silenced them with few well placed shots. Then the crew, under Jack and Will's command, proceeded to free the town from the soldiers.
Jack and Beckett were again face to face, after years.
"Jack Sparrow, we meet again" Becket sneered.
"It's Captain Jack Sparrow to you, Cutler Beckett. It's a displeasure to see your ugly face again, but since I'm forced to do it, I'll make sure I make the best of the occasion and kill you myself" Jack snarled. The duel began, and both the opponents were quite good.
It could go on for ages, if both played fair. But Jack never played fair, so he tricked the Lord into a dead angle, from where he made some debris fall on the lord's head, thus distracting him and opening a space in his opponent's defence for the final blow. Jack's sword was deeply embedded in Beckett's heart.
"You don't play fair" the Lord managed to choke out before dying.
"Pirate" Jack smirked, extracting his sword from the dead's chest.
The battle was ferocious, but in the end the pirates won and freed the Governor. As a reward, all of them were granted asylum in Port Royal.
Norrington was put in jail and hung the next day for treason against the crown. Jack had to admit it gave him a particular satisfaction to see the man that so much wanted to hang him hung himself.
As for the lovebirds, Will and Elizabeth were rarely seen apart from that day on, and the date set for Elizabeth's wedding with the Commodore was decided for her wedding with Will. The Governor was more than happy to give his daughter away to him, because the blacksmith had showed that he was a better man than many high rank officers would ever be.
