Pirates of the Caribbean: The Devil's Eye
Author's Note: Ahoy mates! Welcome aboard Calico Jack's Fortune! Please sit back and relax as you are sailed through an adventure filled with anxiety, fear, love, humor, and lots and lots of treasure! Do not be scared of a few bloody sword fights, a trip to the end of the world and more. Enjoy the rum, sun, and sea as you travel back to the time of the East India Trading Company, the exciting adventures a New World brings, and the daring, dangerous life of pirates.
And before we begin our journey, let us make a toast…a toast to FREEDOM…and a toast to the BLACK PEARL.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters…they all belong to the lucky mouse.
Note: Yes, I am a senior in high school, and I'm taking alllll the really hard classes this year. I have a few chapters done already, but please do not bug me too much if I don't post for a while because I'm taking AP US History and have to take about 8 hours of notes a week...along with Chemistry II, AP English, Calculus, and Spanish IV. Of course, every now and then I would appreciate a reminder to make time to write! Thank you!
Chapter 1: The Triangle
The winds blew fiercely from every direction—a storm was brewing. The sailors on deck struggled to take in the sails to prevent the ship from swamping. It was of a desperate sort that they did so. Every man on the ship had once sailed under Captain Jack Sparrow. Every man on the ship was risking everything they had—which wasn't much as the way of pirates went—to rescue the pirate they were all so fond of. As it were, they were severely undermanned, with a crew consisting of those who had survived the Kraken's attack on the Black Pearl, and a handful of other's who had once served under Jack Sparrow. Gibbs had made sure none of the mutineers were aboard, but there wasn't much they could do about Barbossa. Barbossa was Captain of the Midnight Fortune, much to everyone's dismay. But according to Tia Dalma, the voodoo priestess who seemed to know a lot that she shouldn't, Captain Barbossa was the only man that could help them save Jack. He had died and returned; Elizabeth had seen Jack kill Barbossa with her own eyes, back on the Isla de Muerta.
Another huge gust of wind came, as the ship topped the crest of yet another huge wave, causing Elizabeth to be disrupted from her musings and concentrate yet harder on holding onto the ship to avoid being swept overboard. She was currently at the helm with Tia, both women desperately trying to hold on and keep the ship from tipping over.
For the next two hours Elizabeth could think of nothing but the need to hang on for both her life and for Jack's. Without them, Jack was as much as doomed, according to Barbossa. He said it was nigh on impossible to get out of there without any outside help. Wherever there was. Barbossa had done it, but he seemed to think Jack was less capable than he was.
Several hours and infinite thoughts later, a calm came, and the winds and waves instantly died down, leaving a damaged and water-soaked—but still afloat—ship in its wake. The ship slowly came back to life, but the men wouldn't let go of the ropes, still believing that they were going to be swept off the ship.
"Elizabeth!" cried a worried voice. It was Will. He had been on the main deck, tending to the sails as the storm blew up, and Elizabeth had been worried he had been swept overboard. "Elizabeth!" he cried again a bit more desperately, until Elizabeth finally found her voice.
"I'm here, Will."
"Thank God," he said as he sprinted up the stairs and gathered her in his arms. "I was so worried."
Elizabeth said nothing, content in hugging him back, but Will probably assumed she was just stiff from the cold water and the exertion of hanging on.
"Head count!" came a shout from below, as Barbossa came out of his cabin. Of course, Elizabeth thought bitterly, he had stayed inside while the rest of them struggled to stay alive and keep the Fortune afloat.
Elizabeth lined up next to Will as roll was taken. Luckily no one had been swept overboard, though one man had fallen from the rigging and required attention from the ship's doctor, a man named Graham.
Everyone was set to go below decks to take a well-deserved rest when Barbossa stopped them. "Ye be going nowheres 'till I say so." He paced back and forth, glaring with his beady eyes into the eyes of the crew, all the while the monkey who couldn't die hanging to his shoulder. Finally he spoke again, "Here the veil between the worlds is thin. The storm was the sign that we entered the triangle."
The faces of the crew turned fearful. "Triangle did he say?"
"Not THE triangle?"
"He never told us where's we be going!"
"…but the triangle!"
Elizabeth stepped forward and shouted so that all could hear, "Did you not know there would be danger in attempting to retrieve Jack back to us? By signing on to the account, you declared your loyalties and friendship to Captain Jack Sparrow. If you back down on him now, you're all pink-livered cowards."
"So, lads, you heard the lady, do we continue on?" asked Barbossa, standing with his hands on his hips, facing them. "Or are we going to turn around and doom Jack? I daresay I have no qualms about doing it, not being a friend of Jack's meself. But I must be warning ye, to turn back now would most likely be the death of us all. The Devil's Triangle does not like those that enter and try to exit again."
A hushed silence fell over the crew as the Bermuda Triangle was mentioned. Everyone there knew that the Bermuda Triangle, or Devil's Triangle as many liked to call it, made compasses point other than north, and thus the navigation of the ship was messed up. What they didn't know was that Elizabeth had a compass that was not in any way ordinary. That she possessed Jack's compass was a secret she had only shared with Barbossa, for obvious reasons. Not even Will knew she had it.
Barbossa continued on, "Of course…the Triangle doesn't like those who enter at all…and those going in are as likely to die as those trying to go out." The crew started muttering again. "The veil thins ever more until it disappears at the center of the Triangle. This is our bearing. With smooth sailing, we shall reach there by dawn on the third day."
"And if we don't have a smooth sailing, Captain?" asked Joshamee Gibbs, the first mate, stepping forward.
Barbossa smiled wickedly, "Then I dare say you'll be joining Davy Jones before long."
Another man spoke up, "But how do we have that bearing? Our compasses don't work! We'll end up like all the others who entered the Devil's Triangle!"
"We have our bearing, and how I came by that is my secret. If you can't sail under me and trust my word, get off this ship now." The monkey cackled wildly as Barbossa turned on heel and entered his cabin, leaving the crew to depart below decks quietly, muttering to each other. None of them liked Barbossa, but they knew he was the key to finding Jack.
Elizabeth was shivering with the cold, but turned to the deck railing, staring out at the endless horizon, wondering what dangers might await them, and if they would actually find Jack. Tears started falling down her cheeks, but she quickly blinked them away when an arm encircled her waist and pulled her close.
"Elizabeth, you're freezing! You must get changed into dry clothes," as Will fussed over her, she said nothing—feeling a dull ache that she suspected didn't just have to do with the cold—but allowed herself to be led down to the cabin she shared with Tia Dalma, they being the only women aboard a ship full of lustful men. Tia was not exactly a favorite cabin mate, but she would have to do unless she wanted to stay alone, which was not in Elizabeth's interests. Tia was nowhere to be found, so Will left her there to change and dry off as he went to do the same. He came back quickly and entered, locking the door behind him.
Elizabeth was stretched out on the bed in dry sailor clothes, a heavy blanket piled on top of her still shivering body; tears glistened on her cheeks yet again. It seemed as if she was crying way too much lately. She just couldn't live with herself anymore. Not after what she had done.
Will didn't say anything for a long time, just stood and looked at her, though Elizabeth failed to meet his gaze. He got frustrated and turned his back on her in apparent disgust. After a few minutes of silence, Will turned and looked at her, misery prominent in his eyes.
"Elizabeth--," he started, but then stopped. He tried again, "Elizabeth, what has happened between us?"
Elizabeth gave no answer, but kept her eyes on the ceiling. Will sat down heavily in the room's only chair and put his head in his hands before saying bitterly. "Or should I say, what has happened between you and Jack?"
Elizabeth sat up abruptly and looked at him wordlessly, trying to look innocent, the tears still shimmering on her face, studying for some sign on his face that showed he knew. She didn't have to wait long, as Will deduced quickly what she was thinking.
"Oh, yes, Elizabeth. I saw you that day. I saw you."
"Will, I'm sorry, it wasn't what--,"
"Do you know how I've felt since that day? What it's like to see the fiancée—one you should've been married to already—kissing another man? A man who was more or less a good, loyal friend? If you don't love me anymore, just come out and say it, don't sit there and act like all's well, when in actuality it isn't—all the while making me suffer. Every night, I toss and turn endlessly, wondering what I have done to deserve seeing my beloved kiss Jack Sparrow."
"Captain!" said Elizabeth, before realizing her mistake.
Will looked away hurt as his face turned a nasty shade of pale-gray and he struggled to keep control of his emotions like he had learned as a child. "Well, it doesn't look like he's a captain anymore, now, does it?" He turned and opened the door hastily. "Next you'll be telling me you had something to do with his staying on board while we all got away. At least I can deal with you not loving me anymore, but to lose a friend?" He turned and slammed the door, and Elizabeth could hear his footsteps as they pounded down the hallway.
Elizabeth sat where she was and stared at the door, tears streaming down her face. "Oh, Jack. What have I done?"
