Summary: "'So what now, Jack Sparrow? Are we to fight 'til ye bleed to death?' Barbossa goaded." Jack doesn't take a piece of gold from the chest before beginning to fight Barbossa and finds the battle much more difficult than he anticipated. One-shot. Set during COTBP. AU. Cover art NOT mine, I found it on DeviantArt (I forget who made it).
A/N: This is an idea I got a while ago (when I saw the image on DeviantArt), wrote out on my idea list, and sort of forgot about for some time. I looked through said list yesterday for some inspiration, found this, and the rest is history. My original idea was to kill off Jack (again, for the millionth time in my stories), but then I got a better idea.
Not Part of the Plan
"Ye can't beat me, Jack." Hector Barbossa taunted.
No, but I can certainly give it my best. Jack Sparrow scrambled to his feet and plunged his sword into the other man's torso.
The older man sighed, rolling his eyes with disappointment towards his former captain. He pulled the sword from his body, slashing it through the air and across the other man's face.
Jack let out a yelp of surprise as the vision in his right eye went out, reaching up towards it with one hand as he ducked another swing from his mutinous former first mate. His hand came away bloody and he knew that he was out of luck in terms of using that eye. He rolled beneath Barbossa's sword, grabbing the one the older man had dropped previously. He blocked another attack, doing his best to keep his opponent in view, though the man seemed to be trying to stay out of it.
"Ye're gonna have to do better than that, mate." Jack warned.
Barbossa's sword nicked his arm as he said it, tearing the sleeve and leaving a thin cut on his skin. The younger captain lured him up the path they were on, managing to knock him in the face and send him tumbling back down the slope. He spared a glance at Will Turner, his current partner in crime, to see how he was faring. He seemed to be managing well on his own against Barbossa's three men.
Jack glanced back towards his own conflict as he heard Barbossa angrily coming back up the slope. The older man swung at him and their duel resumed. It wasn't long before the dreadlocked pirate outmaneuvered the other, causing him to slam into a stone pillar. Jack moved quickly, just barely escaping a slash to his back. He raced down the other side of the path, dislodging some of the golden treasure to slow Barbossa down.
At the bottom of the slope, he whipped around to face his pursuer, only to get a sword sliding across his right breast. His shirt tore, barely hanging on his frame. Blood leaked down his body and he gritted his teeth. He managed to switch their positions, backing his opponent into a rock and trapping him against it. The moon shone down on him, his bones revealing themselves.
"So what now, Jack Sparrow? Are we to fight 'til ye bleed to death?" Barbossa goaded.
"Or ye could surrender." Jack calmly suggested, pulling back as the other man swung at him in annoyance. Guess not.
They dueled briefly, before Barbossa unexpectedly punched him across the face. Jack recoiled with a groan of pain and stumbled to regain his balance before retreating. The cursed pirate captain wasn't far behind him, sneering.
Barbossa caught up with him quickly and they were dueling again, trading blows. Jack turned to look over his shoulder at the sound of an explosion from where Will was fighting the others. Seeing the blacksmith sitting up alive and well, he went back to his own fight.
The two captains' swords locked. Jack could feel Barbossa overpowering him, could feel the pressure in the blade as it bent. It snapped without warning and the cursed pirate scored another cut across the younger captain's chest. He nearly choked, raising his broken sword in view of his good eye to see how much of it was left. To his relief, he still had a little more than half the blade to work with. I'm not out of luck yet.
He heard Elizabeth make a remark to one of Barbossa's crew members as she joined in the fight to help Will. Soon the cursed pirates roared in pain as the two mortals overwhelmed them.
Jack gasped as his right arm took a cut at the elbow joint. As he was distracted, Barbossa scored a hit across the left side of his face. The younger pirate captain desperately slashed backed at him, feeling his energy seep from him the longer it went on. Any time now, Will!
As if on cue, there was an explosion. He could hear the blacksmith and governor's daughter making a run for the chest, water splashing and gold clinging as they went.
Jack was slowly getting forced in that direction himself. Barbossa seemed to realize what was happening, for he drew his pistol. The injured pirate had barely a moment to register what was about to happen before the gunshot sounded and pain exploded in his right shoulder. Crying out in agony, he slowly slid to his knees, his sword slipping from his hand. His blood oozed down his arm.
"Jack!" Will shouted in horror.
Barbossa brushed by the defeated pirate, no doubt making his way towards the young pair and the chest. With one final surge of energy, Jack tripped his former first mate, grabbed his shattered blade, and pinned him down.
"Now, William!" He ordered, struggling to hold down the enraged Barbossa. "Hurry!"
"No!" Barbossa roared, knowing they'd kill him before he could escape.
The cave felt silent, for a moment, until a single ching sounded. Then it got even quieter. Barbossa had stilled beneath Jack, revelling in being mortal again. Jack lifted his broken sword up, bringing it down through the back of the man's chest.
Barbossa gasped. "I feel...cold."
And then he fell limp.
A shaky breath of relief escaped Jack as he released both the body beneath him and the sword. "Finally."
He climbed off of Barbossa's body, though he was too weak to fight the sliding treasure as it moved underneath him. He found himself in one of the cave's many pools of water, his wounds stinging painfully at the contact. He winced, but stayed silent, resolving not to move for a while.
Within a couple of moments, Elizabeth was at his side, putting pressure on the bullet wound in his shoulder to stop the blood flow. "Will, Jack needs help immediately."
"I don't think we can get him to the Dauntless or the Pearl fast enough." The blacksmith pointed out worriedly.
"He's right." Jack murmured, finding it hard to think. "I've lost too much blood already."
"But you can't die now. We've just won." She responded frantically. "There has to be something we can do."
"I should've grabbed one o' the coins. Then I'd 'ave been cursed too." The dying pirate mused regretfully. I was right in front of the chest and it didn't even cross my mind.
"That's it!" Will exclaimed suddenly, seeming excited. "Elizabeth, help Jack up to the chest. I have an idea."
The governor's daughter assisted Jack to his feet, taking most of his weight as she looked for the easiest way up the treasure pile to the chest. He stumbled alongside her, his foggy mind unsure of why they were going up there. He could taste the salty tang of blood beginning to well up in his throat, a sure sign that he would be dead within minutes. Dying was not part of the plan.
"Over here!" Will called, having found the best spot.
Elizabeth led them towards his voice, turning to the pirate beside her. "Jack?"
He slowly turned his head to her, his dazed state only worsening as time went on. He could tell that she noticed, the pit of dread in her eyes growing.
"Do you think you can climb up that?"
Jack glanced at the pile, baffled at why he would even need to climb it. He briefly wondered if they were trying to make him die of exhaustion before he bled to death. His voice sounded as fatigued as he felt. "I can try."
"You need to hurry." Will urged him gravely.
"'M goin' as fast as I can." He nodded to Elizabeth, a gesture for her to let go.
When she did, he wobbled dangerously for a moment, nearly collapsing. He managed to get a good foothold, taking the last couple of steps towards the heap of gold that led up to Will and the chest. He dug his hands in, heaving himself up far enough for the blacksmith to get ahold of him and haul him up the rest of the way. The moonlight glinting off of the treasure hurt his eyes. Elizabeth climbed up after him.
Will guided Jack to the chest. "You need to grab one of the pieces of gold."
The pirate nodded, noting how pale his skin was as he reached out to the chest. His trembling fingers closed around one of the coins, taking it from the chest. His eyes widened as his flesh faded into a rotting state, revealing the bones of his arm. The pain flowing through his body vanished- the vision in his right eye returning, and, despite feeling nothing, he felt stronger. His mind felt clear again.
He replayed the last couple of minutes in his mind, noting when Will got the clever idea to save him by cursing him temporarily. He had to admit, he was impressed.
"Huh." Jack studied his skeletal arm thoughtfully, moving it in different ways to watch the bone movement. His voice was as normal as ever, with a touch of awe. "Good call, William. Bloody genius, really. Couldn't 'ave done better myself."
"I didn't spring you from prison just so you could die." The blacksmith pointed out, though his eyes showed that he just didn't want his pirate friend to die.
The pirate raised what was left of his rotting eyebrows in amusement, giving an approving nod. "Good deal, mate."
"I would hug you, but…" Elizabeth trailed off, gesturing to his cursed form.
I wouldn't hug me either. Jack stifled a chuckle, prying the visible bullet from his shoulder. "Ye both did good."
Will offered him a knife, which the pirate took, before stepping out of the moonlight. His body reverted back to its natural form. He glanced at where his various wounds had been, seeing them reduced to mere scars. His shirt was still stained red with his blood, but he didn't care. He was alive.
He used the knife to slit his palm, clasping his bleeding hand on the medallion he held as he entered the moonlight again to approach the chest one last time. He let the coin fall from his hand, hearing it rattle as it landed among the others. Jack's lack of feeling faded, replaced with how he would've felt on any normal day. Other than the scars and the memories, it was as though nothing had even happened.
The pirate easily slid down the treasure pile, on the same side where Barbossa's body lay. He picked up his sword, the one he'd initially stabbed his former first mate with early on in their fight. He sheathed the weapon, a small smirk curling his lips upward.
Barbossa was dead, his crew no doubt defeated. Jack himself, Will, and Elizabeth, had all survived. The Pearl was his again. Things had never seemed better for Captain Jack Sparrow.