A/N: Apologies for the delay, I became very busy and forgot to upload this chapter. I hope to keep to my regular update schedule after this delay. Enjoy. Reviews welcome, as always.

Chapter Four

Tortuga, as it turned out, didn't have much more to offer them than Port Royal, in the way of information. Out of the few people who didn't think Jack Sparrow was dead, none had seen him in well over a month. Jessica could sense that Will was becoming worried, she was as well. They had to find Jack before they could begin to devise a plan to get Elizabeth out of Beckett's clutches. There was no way they could hand over Jack or his compass to Beckett without terrible consequences. Even after departing Tortuga for nearby islands, it took Jessica and Will nearly another week to hear any news on Jack. It wasn't lost on either of them that the longer it took to find Jack, the longer Elizabeth had to wait in that prison.

Jessica was about to suggest they return to Tortuga just in case when a man on a small fishing island they found themselves on approached them.

"'Eard you two was lookin' for a Jack Sparrow?" the rugged fisherman asked.

"Yes, we are. We're friends…just concerned is all. We mean no ill will," Will stated after the man seemed to not react in disgust at Jack's name.

They had both kept their relation to Jack closer to the vest after a few encounters with people who weren't the happiest to know Jack was still alive. After so long of not hearing anything newer than "I might have seen him a month ago", Jessica couldn't stop the nagging fear in the back of her mind that maybe something had happened.

"He's that bloke with that ship…the uh…oh wuzzit called? The one with the black sails."

"The Black Pearl," Jessica offered.

"Yeah that one! Anyways, I got a man on the docks who said he seen a ship like tha'. Don't know if he saw yer man, but…"

"Thank you," Jessica said hopefully, walking toward the docks.

"Yes, thank you…Jess, wait!" Will called, trying to catch up to her.

"Jessica, wait," Will said, grabbing her wrist when he caught up to her.

They both stopped short of the docks.

"What?"

"How do we know we can trust these people?" Will asked.

"We don't exactly have a choice, do we?" Jessica said firmly, pulling her arm away and proceeding onto the docks.

"Which one of you here has seen the ship with black sails?" she called loudly to the men on the docks.

A man near the end of the docks raised an arm. Jessica disregarded the looks she got as she walked forward, Will right behind her.

The man worked on patching a fishing net as they approached. He grinned as Jessica stopped in front of him.

"Do you know the name Jack Sparrow?"

"Yes, I have heard of Jack Sparrow. I did not realize he had…people so determined to find him," the man said looking over Jessica slowly.

For a reason she couldn't place, Jessica felt her skin crawl, but held her composure for the sake of finding Jack.

"I can't say about Jack Sparrow, but there's an island just south of the straits where I trade spices for…delicious long pork. I can't say about Jack, but you'll find a ship there. A ship with black sails," the man said. "Come, we can take you."

The words "long pork" sent an odd feeling through Jessica, but she couldn't think of where she had heard the term before. Nor could she remember what it meant. Whatever the case, she felt herself drawing physically closer to Will as they followed the spice trader aboard his vessel. It was a small, raggedy ship, but the crew worked efficiently to set sail quickly.

"What is it?" Will whispered to her once they had set sail.

He had no doubt noticed her change in confidence and her closeness.

"I don't know yet. I just…don't have a good feeling about this," she whispered back.

It did not take them long to see an island drawing near, only a few hours out from the docks. As the ship sailed even nearer, Jessica spotted those unmistakable masts towering in the distance. She ran to the bow to get a better look, her previous hesitations lost in her eagerness. There it was: the Black Pearl. But as her initial eagerness waned, it was replaced with confusion and worry. The Pearl seemed undamaged, but was completely run aground. The sails were stowed and the entire ship seemed settled in the sand of the island's beach. Large, thickly-forested mountains rose high above the Pearl, covering most of the island. She wondered what could have happened and hoped it wasn't anything too bad.

"My brother will take you ashore," the spice trader said as Jessica walked back to middeck.

They helped the spice trader's rather large brother ready one of the ship's longboats. Will helped Jessica into the boat before pushing them off from the ship. The man with them was silent as he rowed, just staring at the two of them.

"We'll find Jack," Will said to Jessica.

Her expression thinned into a tense frown.

"Now I think I'm more afraid of what we'll find when we do find him."

"Why?"

"That," Jessica said gesturing widely at the Pearl, "doesn't look good."

"It is odd."

"Very. Even for Jack that's odd."

"How do you know Jack did that?"

She shrugged, "Intuition?"

"Well, if he did do that, then I'm sure he had a reason."

"That's exactly what I'm worried about. Not to mention, this island is in the middle of nowhere."

Suddenly, the boat stopped. Will and Jessica looked over to see the man had stopped rowing. Curiously, they were still some ways away from the beach.

"What's wrong? The beach is right there!" Will said.

The man started speaking rapidly in a language neither of them understood. They both stared in confusion.

"What?" Will asked again.

The man continued speaking in the different language. Jessica wasn't sure, but she thought it might be French. Whatever language it was, it was clear he was rowing no farther.

"Oh, for the love of—" Jessica muttered angrily.

She stood in the boat and tightened the belt of her scabbard. Will did the same, casting one final look at the man.

"Bon voyage," the man said.

French, Jessica thought sourly.

She rolled her eyes and jumped into the water, swimming for the shore with Will behind her.

Jessica grumbled to herself as she trudged ashore next to the Pearl. Salt water stung her eyes as she wiped them. As soon as she was out of the water, she pulled the cloth tie out of her long black hair and started trying to wring the salt water from it. She hated being drenched fully clothed. The glaring sun overhead did nothing but agitate her further as it made her wet clothes stick to her. She untied her leather vest and threw it over one of the mooring lines before struggling to remove her boots. At least her shirt would dry faster without her vest over it.

Wait, mooring line?

She looked at her vest hanging in front of her.

"Jack, what did you do?" she asked to the air.

"That was unexpected," Will said, walking up next to her as she dumped water out of one boot.

"Damn frustrating is what it was," she said, replacing her left boot and taking off her right.

Will chuckled.

"What's so funny?"

"It's just water."

"Oh, you like having water and sand all in your clothes, do you?"

She stood on her toes and dumped the watery contents of her right boot on top of Will's head.

"Hey!"

Jessica laughed wildly as she put her boot back on and grabbed her vest.

"What? It's only a bit of water," she teased back, tying her vest on.

Will smiled and shook his head as he wiped the water from his eyes.

"Come on, let's see if anyone is around."

They walked around the Pearl, Will calling the names of the crew the whole time. But there was no answer, no sign that anyone had even been near the Pearl recently. The ship bore no signs of damage, which only served to confuse Jessica further.

"What could have happened?" Will finally asked, looking up at the Pearl.

"I have no idea."

Will looked out toward the thick forest that bordered the beach.

"Maybe I should look for them in there?"

"'I'? No way we're splitting up. It's too dangerous. These islands are often less desolate than they first appear," Jessica responded firmly.

"Then the crew could be in trouble. Jack as well."

"Let me climb up there," Jessica said, motioning toward the deck of the Pearl. "There may be something that gives us an idea of where they went. If I don't find anything, then we can search the forest...together. By the looks of it, we have several hours until the tide comes in, anyway."

Without waiting for Will to respond, Jessica walked over to the nearest mooring line and swung her leg over it. The thick rope reached all the way to the bow of the Pearl and was certainly sturdy enough to hold her weight. She gripped farther up the line with her hands and slowly started to climb up the rope. She was halfway up to the bow, a good five yards off the ground, when Will finally said something. It was then that she realized he had simply been watching her in astonishment.

"How did you know to do that?" he called up to her, the shock evident in his voice.

"Did you really think Barbossa kept me on the Pearl for eight years as a useless prisoner? He was a bloody awful person, but at least he never underestimated me. You could say I learned a thing or two over the years," Jessica called down, continuing to shimmy up the rope.

In fact, she had learned most of her seafaring and fighting skills while aboard the Pearl. The one thing she had brought with her, however, had been a very useful piece of advice given to her by Jack. One that she continued to use to this day.

"Let them underestimate you. Just ensure it's the last mistake they ever make."

Even though Barbossa may have never underestimated her, the crew surely had. Many of them quickly learned not to. She smiled to herself, even as her arms grew tired from climbing the rope.

Eventually, Jessica got close enough to grab on to the Pearl's railing. She hoisted herself over and found herself on a normal deck, if just slightly tilted from resting in the sand. Even from here, she could see the rest of the Pearl she and Will couldn't see from the ground was also free of damage. She looked around, hoping to see anything abnormal or out of place. Taking care not to lose her balance, she walked the length of the deck, but saw nothing that could have given her a clue as to where the crew went.

"There's nothing here!" she called down to Will.

Silence was the only response she got.

"Will?" she called. "Did you hear me?"

Nothing.

She walked back over to the railing and looked down. The only sign that Will had even been there was the line of footsteps in the sand leading toward the forest.

"Damn it," she muttered to herself.

"William Turner, I swear you'd better have a damn good reason for leaving alone!" she called as loudly as she could.

It did not take Jessica long to decide if she was alone, she was safest on the Pearl. At least up on the ship she was out of reach and had a good vantage point, should it turn out this island was not as abandoned as it appeared. She just hoped Will would be okay on his own and would have better success finding the crew. She could have followed him and had considered it before deciding it was foolish. After his trail in the sand ended, there was no telling which way he had gone. He couldn't have gotten far, as it hadn't taken her long to search the deck, but that forest was dense enough to get lost easily. The best thing she could do was wait for Will to return and search the Pearl while she did so. She made her way to the cabin first. It took more effort than usual to pull one of the doors open, as the tilt of the ship made her fight gravity to do so. Once inside the cabin, she was pleased to see it looked far different from when Barbossa had captained the ship. The meaningless, ornate embellishments she remembered were gone. Instead, it simply looked as any functional cabin would. Numerous maps were spread across the large table at its center. Navigational tools lay, seemingly discarded, to the side of said maps. The corner of Jessica's mouth curled into a smile as she realized the only navigational tool Jack really needed was his compass. Which is exactly why Beckett could never have it. It was far too powerful an item in the wrong hands, if the stories Jack told her about it were to be believed. A number of empty bottles collected on the downward-tilting side of the cabin, having settled with the ship. Another sign that Jack had regained control of his beloved Pearl. Jessica looked closely at the maps, hoping to figure out some part of why Jack had brought the Black Pearl and her crew to this island. But on the maps she found nothing, not even an indication of a heading. This venture to find her brother had become more puzzling with every day that passed.

As she continued to look over the Pearl, Jessica heard voices from below. Will had been gone a few hours at this point, so she looked over the railing in hopes he had returned with the crew. Unfortunately, he had not. Instead, two men she did not recognize at first approached the ship. She quickly ducked below the level of the railing, out of sight, and drew her sword. They hadn't seen her. The voices continued below her, but she couldn't make out what was being said over the sound of waves crashing on the shore. The tide had come up significantly since she and Will had first landed on the beach. She would defend the Pearl should those men try to take it. She didn't care who they were, the Pearl would not fall out of Jack's hands again, not if she could help it. All of a sudden, the sound of loud drums carried on the wind. They sounded very far away, but that didn't make them any less concerning to Jessica. Her worries had been right: this island wasn't desolate after all. She hoped that Will hadn't met any trouble.

Minutes later she heard a voice much closer to where she was hiding on the Pearl. One of the men climbed over the railing and stood only a few paces from her. She steeled her nerves and stood.

"Stay where you are!" she called, standing to her full height and holding her sword firmly.

It was then that she recognized the man in front of her.

"You!" Ragetti shouted at her in shock.

"You!" Jessica said at almost the same moment.

The thin man with a wooden eye drew his pistol on her, putting her at a serious disadvantage.

"We'll be taking this ship back, Miss Sparrow. Seeing how no one else is around."

"I'm here...and you aren't taking it. Sorry, mate."

"Not much you can do 'bout it with only a sword."

Jessica glanced down at her feet and smirked. What perfect luck.

"You think so?"

"Course. Pistol beats sword."

There it was, the old reliable form of someone underestimating her. Ragetti had never been one to take her as a serious threat while she was prisoner on the Pearl. What she was planning was a gamble, for sure, but she hoped it would pay off. She delivered a swift kick with the heel of her boot to the plank directly between her feet. With a loud crack the end of the plank nearest to Ragetti shot upwards into his face. He stumbled backwards, clutching at his nose before his wooden eye popped out and started to roll across the deck. The pistol in his hand went off with a dull click and nothing more. He'd apparently been confident enough to threaten her with a wet-powdered pistol. She scoffed at the sheer idiocy.

"Me eye!" he yelled, dropping to the deck and scuttling after it.

Jessica just happened to be standing over one of the few planks of the Black Pearl's deck that was always loose, no matter how many times Barbossa had the crew fix it. She had gambled on the fact that Jack had not solved that problem either. At least she had been right, after all.

Jessica was about to go after Ragetti when suddenly the ship lurched to the opposite side, throwing her off balance. She caught herself on the railing just in time to keep herself upright. The ship creaked as the wood settled back into place, the deck leveling. That was when the ship started to turn. Jessica looked over the starboard railing to see slackened mooring lines and the signs that a massive wave had just hit the Pearl. That had been enough water with the rising tide to partially float the ship. It also didn't help that Ragetti's partner-in-stupidity, Pintel, was on the beach trying to unfasten the lines. She didn't care what trouble Will might have had, Jessica would have rather dealt with that than with these two idiots.

"What do you think you're doing!? You can't sail the Pearl with only two people!" she called down to Pintel.

After a brief moment of confusion, he must have realized who she was.

"Sparrow! Where did you come from!? Where's Ragetti!?"

"He's...busy," she said as she watched Pintel's thin partner chase his eye.

The ship started to turn toward the sea once more, throwing Jessica to the deck this time. As she tried to regain her footing, she saw a flash of fur out of the corner of her eye. Jack...the monkey, had come from below deck and grabbed Ragetti's wooden eye. Without stopping, the monkey ran across the deck, Ragetti in pursuit. Jessica used the railing as a support to get back on her feet. The Pearl's bow was now facing the open ocean, completely turned around from where it pointed at the island only minutes ago. The tide was also gaining on the ship, providing enough lift that the Black Pearl was now mostly floating.

"Thief! Little, hairy thief! Give it back!" Ragetti shouted after Jack the monkey, still clambering for his eye.

Below, she could hear Pintel yelling at him to loose the mooring lines.

"You absolute idiots, this will never work!" Jessica yelled angrily.

There was no way even the three of them, assuming she could threaten the other two into helping, could even maneuver the Pearl well enough to even keep it from crashing back into the island. At minimum she knew the ship needed at least double the manpower they had now. She just hoped she could stall the process long enough for Will to return.

Thankfully, it was not long before Jessica's silent prayers were answered. As the rising waves lifted the Black Pearl and started drawing her out to sea, Jessica heard more voices below. She released her white-knuckled grip on one of the ship's lines and went to the railing. On the rapidly-disappearing beach she saw Gibbs, Will, and the rest of the Pearl's crew running for the ship. One person she didn't see among them was Jack. Even as the crew started to pull themselves aboard with the slackened lines, Jessica saw Will had firmly planted himself on the beach. She had no idea what had transpired in the island's jungled forest, but Will seemed adamant not to leave. Then, movement far down the beach caught Jessica's eye. Even from the good vantage point on the Pearl, she could barely make out a figure running down the beach. As the person got closer, she recognized that gait. It was Jack. Her elation at seeing her brother, alive no less, quickly turned to surprise as a horde of people with weapons rounded the curve of the beach behind him. She didn't need to know what had happened on the island; it was clear Jack was running for his life.

"Cast off those lines!" Gibbs shouted.

Jessica didn't need to be told twice. She brought her sword down on the nearest line, severing it, and then ran for the mainmast. It didn't matter if they dropped the lines, they weren't going anywhere without the power of the wind. She quickly scaled the lower half of the mast and, gripping the mast with her legs, reached up and pulled the rigging hard. The rigging gave way and the mainsail dropped, immediately being caught by the wind. Jessica backed a ways down the mast before dropping the rest of the way to the deck, catching the portside line of the mainsail and bracing it. She was doing the same on the starboard side when the rest of the crew hit the deck in full. In moments, the Black Pearl was ready to sail. Only, Jack wasn't aboard. She looked back over to see Jack running through the waist-high waters to the Pearl, barely catching the cargo netting that had been thrown over the port side of the ship. The large tribe of people chasing him stopped in the waist-deep waters.

"Alas, my children, this is the day you shall always remember as the day you almost‒" Jack's shout of seeming triumph was cut short as a wave pummeled the side of the Pearl.

Jessica had to look over the side of the ship to see he hadn't been thrown off. She reached a hand down to him and helped him on to the deck.

Pintel and Ragetti had somehow managed to sneak themselves in among the crew. Jessica glared at them, apparently the only one who knew they had tried -rather unsuccessfully- to steal the Black Pearl. But she didn't care if they stayed. They weren't exactly a threat. The seemingly impossible task of locating Jack had actually been done. She could hardly believe it, but there he was, right in front of her. She was about to ask what had happened, when Gibbs walked over to them.

"Let's put some distance between us and this island and head out to open sea," he suggested to Jack.

"Yes to the first. Yes to the second, but only insofar as we keep to the shallows as much as possible," Jack responded.

Pintel and Ragetti had somehow found Jack's coat and brought it to him. Jessica crossed her arms and looked at Jack in confusion.

"That seems a bit contradictory, Captain," Gibbs stated.

"I have every faith in your reconciliatory navigational skills, Master Gibbs. Now where is that monkey? I want to shoot something," Jack grumbled.

All of a sudden, something dropped from above Jack and hit the deck. Jessica noticed it was Ragetti's wooden eye. She looked up and saw Jack the monkey up in the ratlines. Seconds later she heard a sharp click as Jack readied his pistol. Ragetti was finally able to grab his fake eye and put it back in place.

Jessica once again started to bring up the subject of the Pearl being beached on that island, only to be interrupted by Will this time.

"Jack! Elizabeth is in danger."

"Have you considered keeping a more watchful eye on her?" Jack said, moving toward the wheel. "Perhaps just locking her up somewhere?"

"She is locked up, in a prison! Bound to hang for helping you!" Will said angrily, following Jack.

"There comes a time where one must take responsibility for one's mistakes."

Jessica could already tell this was not going well, even before Will held a sword to Jack's neck. She bolted up the stairs after the two of them.

"This is ridiculous! Will, put the sword down."

She was more frustrated than worried. She doubted Will would harm Jack, at least for the moment. Will ignored her, nonetheless.

"I need that compass of yours, Jack. I must trade it for her freedom," Will insisted.

Jack also did not seem particularly worried as he moved the blade of the sword from one side of his neck to the other.

"Mr. Gibbs!" Jack called, moving away from Will's sword to stand next to Gibbs at the wheel.

"Captain!"

"We have a need to travel upriver," Jack said, dropping his voice.

"By 'need' do you mean a trifling need? A fleeting, as in, say, a passing fancy?" Gibbs asked hopefully.

"No, a resolute and unyielding need."

"What we need to do is make sail for Port Royal with all haste," Will cut in, agitated.

Jessica watched Jack's shoulders droop in defeat, guessing he realized that Will was not going to leave the matter alone.

"William," Jack said finally, approaching the table in front of the wheel. "I shall trade you the compass...if you help me to find this."

Jack drew a folded, tattered piece of cloth from inside his coat and unfurled it. Jessica craned her neck to see what it was. All that appeared to be on it was a crude drawing of some sort of key. Will looked in confusion at the cloth.

"You want me to find this?"

"No. You want you to find this...because the finding of this finds you incapacitorially finding and or locating in your discovering the detecting of a way to save your dolly belle, ol' what's-her-face. Savvy?"

Even though she'd heard Jack speak in such a manner before, his roundabout way of speaking never failed to confuse Jessica. It seemed to take Will a moment to decide what he'd heard as well.

"This is going to save Elizabeth?" he asked, grabbing the piece of cloth from Jack.

If she had been standing farther away, Jessica would have not then caught the next thing Jack asked Will.

"How much do you know about Davy Jones?"

Will continued to look confused.

"Not much," he finally responded.

"Yeah. That's gonna save Elizabeth."

Jessica looked curiously at Jack, resolving that she needed to speak to him before things got more confusing.

Her attempt, as it turned out, was cut short once again. Will finally seemed to have noticed her. Her desire to speak with Jack was put aside as soon as Will grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her into an embrace.

"Jessica, thank God. You're alright. I'm sorry I left you alone back there. But I saw Cotton's parrot and followed it into the forest and then...well, I suppose I should apologize. You were right. That island wasn't as uninhabited as it seemed. I should have listened to you."

He was speaking so quickly, she had trouble keeping up with where the conversation was going.

"Will, slow down. We're fine, we're safe. I'm fine...and I'm glad to see you are too. I was worried. Tell me what happened."

The story she got from him was hardly believable. An island of cannibals that simultaneously made Jack their chief and wanted to eat him because they thought he was some sort of god. Will had been captured and imprisoned just like the rest of the crew had been. They eventually were able to escape and thankfully Jack had too. When he was done, Will followed Jessica's gaze to look at Jack at the helm.

"That's quite the story," she commented.

"And every word of it true. Are you going to speak to him?"

"Yes, of course. None of this is adding up. It just doesn't make sense."

"Does anything with Jack ever make sense?"

She smirked, leaving Will in the middle of the deck, and made her way back toward Jack. She was resolved this time: no one was going to stop her.

Jack had taken over Gibbs' position at the wheel and was fully focused on the sea ahead of them. That is, until Jessica approached. He glanced sideways at her and smiled.

"So. You decided to accompany dear William on his venture to save his beloved Elizabeth. Did you happen to tell him about my compass as well?"

She couldn't say she was exactly fond of the tone Jack was taking with her.

"'Decided' isn't the word I would use. Cutler Beckett made sure of that. If I hadn't come with Will, Beckett probably would have succeeded in killing me this time. And if you mean did I tell Will the nature of your compass? No. That isn't my place."

Jack nodded slowly, raising an eyebrow. Jessica felt throwing Beckett's name into the mix might make him realize the seriousness of their business here.

"Look, Jack, I know we haven't exactly spoken in a while. Even longer still before the last time. But I promise you I haven't changed all that much. I wouldn't divulge secrets that weren't mine to divulge and I certainly would never willingly do anything for the likes of Beckett."

"That's good to hear. And I am glad to see you, Jessica. No matter how it may seem to you."

Jessica was completely dumbfounded. Jack was not normally one to express anything so openly. Something was wrong.

"What's the matter?"

She didn't expect a simple question to act like a spark to a keg of powder.

"What makes you think there's a 'matter'? There's no matter here. Not a one. Definitely no matter to be had on this ship."

"For one: the way you're acting. Secondary only to the fact that Will and I happened on the Pearl completely run aground on an island in the middle of nowhere that, apparently, is inhabited by a bunch of cannibals."

"What tells you that wasn't an accident?"

"You wouldn't treat the Pearl so carelessly. And what was that about, asking Will about some old sailor's tale?"

"Sailor's tale?"

"Davy Jones."

Jack's face seemed to pale at the mention of the name.

"Hector, that unscrupulous bastard and mutinous coward he was, may have taught you a lot. But you still have a lot to learn, love."

That avenue seemed closed to her, but she tried something else.

"Where are we going?"

"Do you remember any stories about the Pantano River?"

"The river that runs through the swamplands? Why are we going there?"

"Patience, dear Jessica. You'll see soon enough. Now, go run along and keep an eye on William for me, would you? I can't say I trust him when his dear Elizabeth is in danger."

Jessica narrowed her eyes at him.

"I will, but not because I'm being ordered to."

"I'd expect nothing less. I suppose you really haven't changed all that much. Now, go on."

She walked away in search of Will, not sure if she had learned much more. One thing she was certain about, however, was that Jack was hiding something. Jessica was now determined to figure out what it was.