A/N: Yes, I definitely remember the LotR thing now. I think I was subconsciously thinking of it the whole time, because it's very like what I picture the waters at World's End to look like. Except I don't think the dead people have candles, I think of them as kind of cloggy debris. Like a pool filter at camp that's completely full of bugs.

This is the second update this weekend. So if you haven't checked for updates in a while, make sure you didn't miss one.

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As soon as Barbossa and Elizabeth had rowed out of sight, Will had gone below to sulk. So it was a while before he noticed that instead of floating at anchor, the And Back had started to move again.

The moment he realized what was happening, Will rushed up on deck. The seas were much choppier than they had been earlier, and the island where Barbossa and Elizabeth had gone was already out of sight. Will ran up to Gibbs and grabbed him by the collar. "What in the hell is going on?"

"Well you see, young William, the weather got bad very mysteriously and we – that is, the crew, all of them and me as well – began to worry that it were not perhaps so healthy for us to remain in these waters any longer. So we've started to make way, heading back the way we-"

"We can't leave them. Can you sail us safely home? I know I can't. Much as I don't like Barbossa, we need him. Not to mention Jack, who's the reason we're here in the first place. Hey, you!" he called to the man at the helm. "Bring her around, we're going back!"

Ignored.

So Will acted fast. He jumped up on a crate and tried to persuade the crew and then to threaten them. When that failed, he climbed to the helm, grabbed the pirate who was steering, and without a word dumped him over the railing into the waters of the dead. Gibbs took exception to that: "Now Will, you can't just go around-"

So Will bashed him to sleep with the hilt of his sword, then turned to face the dumbstruck crew. "Captain says I'm in charge if Mr. Gibbs were to become… indisposed. He's indisposed now, isn't he? So…"

At first he thought the pirates were prepared to listen, but then Will heard the whoosh of a sword coming out of its scabbard behind him. For a moment he considered the possibility of trying to disarm the attacker, but then decided not to take any chances. He spun around, weapon drawn, and slashed not at the sword but at the hand that held it.

While the pirate ran around clutching his injured hand and trying to stop the blood fountaining out, Will firmed up his control. "Does anyone else care to question my orders?" After a moment, he put his sword away. "I thought not. Now, we'll return later for the man I threw overboard, but first we need our captain. Which way?"

But there were only two people who knew exactly which way they had come from: one who was overboard and the other who was unconscious. Will thought for a moment. "The monkey," he said. "It watches Barbossa like I watch Elizabeth. Let's ask the bloody monkey."

With Cotton using his mysterious skills to interpret, they explained to Jack the monkey who they were looking for. Sure enough, Jack climbed up to the wheel, sat on it, and pointed out the direction to take. He seemed pretty sure of himself, so Will decided to trust him. "All right. Bring her around, and…and follow the monkey." He was glad to see that the pirates were obeying his orders without murmur now, even orders as bizarre as follow the monkey. He picked up Barbossa's spyglass and slapped it against his hand with authority, and wished he had thought to wear a fancier hat.

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Our ship – it's gone. Barbossa whipped around. "No!"

Jack winced. "Bugger."

"Come on, we've probably just…drifted," Elizabeth ventured. "Get the oars, the both of you. Let's get out of here, I don't want to think what happens if we sink."

"Yes, ma'am," Jack muttered like a cheeky schoolboy. He took the oars and started to row in the direction she pointed. "I repeat," he said to Barbossa after a moment. "You."

"And I repeat: aye."

Jack looked him up and down slowly and squinted in the sunless gloom. "You're alive?"

"One hundred eighty-nine days and counting," Barbossa said proudly. "No thanks to ye."

Jack stopped rowing and leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees. "You came for me."

His face was open as Elizabeth had never seen it before. She looked away, feeling as if she were intruding on a private moment, and wished they could wait to have this talk until she had gone away. She preferred her Jack Sparrow self-assured and enigmatic, not quiet and serious and (gasp) practically vulnerable.

"Yes, I came for you," Barbossa snapped, impatient as ever. "Now, we have to find our-"

"Even after I shot you, eh? I've been meaning to apologize for that." Jack was coming back to himself a little more. He flashed an excellent imitation of smile, but couldn't press that last hint of entreaty out of his voice. "You know I had no choice. You picked the right leverage, mate."

The opportunity to gloat of course took precedence over wondering what had happened to the And Back. "I know. One more second and the boy would've done whatever I told him."

Jack shook his head with a smile. "I wouldn't have let him. You'd have had to shoot Elizabeth."

"Better her than me."

"Apparently I disagreed." Jack crawled forwards – ignoring the fact that he was almost tipping the boat by piling all the weight onto one end – and put his hands on Barbossa's shoulders. "I mean it. I'm so sorry."

Barbossa waited until Jack had moved away before answering. "It be a real shame, though," he said. "We could have had a deal. A real profitable one."

"We still can have a deal," Jack answered immediately. "In fact I hereby promise that in future I'll always attempt to deal with you before shooting. D'you care to make me the same promise?"

Elizabeth reached for the oars and pressed them into Jack's hands. "Row, idiot." He appeared not to have heard her, although he did start rowing.

Barbossa made a face. "So I'm supposed to just forget about your killin me, is that it?

"The way I'm supposed to just forget about the mutiny? Yes." An edge had crept into Jack's voice.

"The mutiny," Barbossa echoed. "Don't tell me a clever little boy like you still hasn't figured that one out."

"I know you saved me life, mate, and I am properly grateful," Jack assured him sarcastically, putting down the oars again. Elizabeth growled, picked them up, and handed them to Barbossa instead. He, too, started rowing without really paying attention. Jack continued: "I just have to wonder though: why is it that you sailed around for ten years in my ship that I sold my soul for, and never once tried to help me or even come say hello, eh? You knew I was still alive."

"Aye, I knew, but I was a mite distracted." Barbossa's voice had acquired a touch of defensiveness. "Ye will recall a certain stone chest..."

Jack seemed on the verge of swallowing this explanation, and Elizabeth couldn't keep silent any longer. "You can't believe that!" Both pirates turned to look at her in surprise. "Jack, he led a mutiny against you, you were left to die! He betrayed you, have you forgotten? And you're just going to-"

"Oh, look – it's our ship!" Jack exclaimed brightly, pointing at sails in the distance. The three of them sat in silence for a while – Barbossa glaring at Elizabeth, Elizabeth shaking her head reproachfully at Jack, and Jack watching Barbossa with a thoughtful frown on his face.

They didn't speak again until the ship was nearly upon them and someone had thrown a rope for them to climb up.

"I think the mutiny was well under way before Barbossa got involved, love," Jack said as he helped her out of the boat.

"It was join them or join him," Barbossa agreed. "I fixed it so no one killed him – what more d'you want?"

She was halfway up the side of the ship, but turned around to call down: "I want you to stand up for your friends, that's what I want!"

"And that would have gotten both of us killed!" Barbossa shouted up after her, starting to climb himself. "As I recall, you explained to Will Turner that it's all right for a father to take a whip to his own son if that's the only way to protect him. Yes, or no?"

She had reached the top, but leaned back down to hiss at him: "Will's father made a sacrifice that cost him his son's respect and very likely his peace of mind as well, and you, on the other hand, took control of a ship you wanted in the first place and spent ten years raiding and pillaging to your black heart's content! How dare you compare yourself to Will's poor father! And Jack…" she gave him her parting words before he had even reached the deck. "I'm surprised you're buying it. I'm going below."

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Barbossa stood staring after Elizabeth, trying his best to feel angry at her. He was interrupted by a soft tsk over his shoulder.

"Oh, you've gone and disappointed her now," Jack informed him. "Shame on you."

"Shut up," Barbossa spat.

Jack heard the venom in his voice and grinned. "Hurts, doesn't it?" When the only reply he got was a glare that could have boiled water, he continued knowingly, "It'll be a while before she forgives you. You'd better get used to feeling ashamed."

"Well, what does she want from me?" Barbossa exploded, slapping his hand down hard on the railing.

There was a long silence and then Jack suggested delicately, "Maybe she needs you to apologize."

Barbossa turned to face him and let another long moment go by. "Maybe she should just tell me what she wants, instead of talkin through other people."

Jack winced. He opened his mouth and closed it again, several times, not really sure how to proceed. Finally he just smiled sheepishly and said, "It hurt."

A sarcastic retort – yes well that's what happens when your friends turn on you and leave you to die –sprung to the tip of Barbossa's tongue, but he resisted. He knew that he had failed miserably at meeting in the middle – Jack had come so far and all that remained was to take that one step and say...

But he couldn't. Not in front of everybody, the whole crew and especially bloody Will Turner. He looked at Jack helplessly and sighed. "I know."

Jack's smile was sad. "That's the best you can do, eh?"

Barbossa nodded.

"Well, if you'd rather keep on feeling guilty about it, that's just none of my business, is it. All that remains is the thousand-pound question: can I trust you, or will you do it again?"

"I sailed past the ends of the world for ye, Jack Sparrow."

"We all did," interrupted Will. He judged it time to break up the reunion, so he stepped up and shook hands with Jack. "Glad to see you again, mate," he said, meaning it, then turned to Barbossa. "If you're wondering where we went and why we're short one or two people…"

"One or two?"

"More like one and a half," Will clarified. "I threw a man overboard and one's downstairs missing most of his fingers."

"Well, somebody's a fast learner!" Jack observed. "That's the way to keep order aboard a pirate ship and no mistake."

Barbossa squinted at him. "What happened?"

"One might almost call it a bit of a mutiny. I'm sorry I couldn't shut it down more peacefully…"

"You're here, aren't you? With the rest of the crew intact? Then you did fi- Jack?"

Jack had gone up to the boy and was stroking him under the jaw. When he realized what it looked like he withdrew right away and said, "Oh no no, not like that. It's just he's got quite a…" he sketched a line across his neck.

"Oh, the scar." Will tilted his head back to give him a better look at the thin white line, then shifted his shirt out of the way to show Jack the bullet hole. "He did that."

Barbossa rolled his eyes and jerked his collar down to reveal his own scar, a large black gangrenous-looking mass.

So Jack pulled his shirt up from his waist, exposing a web of lines that suggested the Kraken had in fact torn him into many pieces. They all looked at each other for a moment and then Jack held his hand out. "The three of us seem to be rather lucky men, eh? I'll drink to that."

Barbossa handed over his flask with a chuckle. "You'll drink to anything."

"So," Jack said to Barbossa after a few long sips, "Now what? I accept your apology that you didn't give me, and I thank you very much for coming to rescue me. What now?"

"I suppose," Will broke in, "That I also accept the apology you didn't give me, and while I'm sure it was Elizabeth's idea and not yours, I also thank you for coming after me."

At first it seemed that Barbossa was ignoring him. "Don't be too hasty with the thanks, Jack. The danger's not over yet – I predict we're going to have a great streak of trouble trying to re-enter the world of the living." But then he turned to Will and grinned. "Cut off someone's hand, did you? Seems there's hope for you yet."

Will took it as a good sign that he hadn't been called boy, and decided to quit while he was ahead.

They watched him go. "I'm serious about the trouble, Jack."

Jack looked concerned for maybe two seconds. "Between the two of us, I think we can handle any sorts of trouble that may arise. Friends?" he asked, holding out his hand boldly. "At least…for now?"

Barbossa beamed at him and shook on it. "Aye. Friends."

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TBC.

Next chapter will be fun because it's got Davy Jones in it. I have a hard time writing his voice but I like him anyhow.