Hello everybody! I have another chapter for you! I should probably tone down the Hamilton references. Maybe? Anyway, enjoy. I'm sure you'll be back.

I regret nothing

Evelyn POV

When I came out of my cabin, I made every effort to avoid Barbossa. I still wasn't really in the mood to talk to him and Ragetti's confession about Barbossa's possible feelings had really thrown me off. I pushed that aside, however, and wandered down to the brig where Will and the rest of the Interceptor's crew were being held. I was hoping Will would be able to fill in some information about where Abby has been the last five years. I slowly descended the stairs, making sure no one else was around. Once satisfied that I was the only one, I walked over to the cell Will was in, ignoring the rest of the crew crammed into the opposite cell.

"You're a friend of Abby's?" I asked, causing Will's head to snap to me.

"What's it to you?" He asked coolly, his dark eyes narrowing suspiciously.

I lowered my eyes. "Look, I'm sorry about what happened. I would try and persuade Barbossa to let you live, but he wouldn't even listen to me when I asked him to spare Abby and he knew what she meant to me."

Will knit his brows in confusion. "What do you mean? Who are you?"

"Evelyn Holmes, usually go by Evie," I replied. "Abby and I have known each other since we were kids."

"Evie…" Will said slowly. "Abby's mentioned you a few times. Said you were separated in a shipwreck."

I nodded. "Barbossa found me floating in a longboat five years ago and offered me a place on his crew."

"You willingly joined his crew?" Will asked incredulously.

I shrugged. "I didn't really have a choice. I don't have any family and for all I knew, Abby was dead. There was nowhere else for me to go." Will's eyes softened. "Anyway, so what has Abby been doing these last five years? I heard her mention that Elizabeth was her sister."

"Governor Swann adopted her," Will answered.

"So she's been living as a governor's daughter then," I mused. The corner of my lips twitched upward. "I bet she's loved that. She's never really been high class material. Too adventuresome."

"She did practically beg me to teach her how to fight without telling her father," Will admitted.

I smiled and laughed softly. "That's the Abby I know." We lapsed into silence and I gazed at the young man in the cell. "I really wish I could do something to help," I told him honestly. Will opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when we heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Pintel and Ragetti appeared, each carrying a bucket and mop.

"Evie!" Pintel said in surprise when he spotted me. "What are ye doin down 'ere?"

"Avoiding Barbossa," I replied, rubbing my arm subconsciously. Ragetti gave me a sympathetic look. I moved over to sit on a barrel as the two pirates began mopping tar onto the floor.

"Shiver me timbers!" The parrot in the cell across from Will squawked.

"Cotton here says you missed a bit," Gibbs translated. Pintel slapped the mop against the cell, causing the others in the cell to jerk back.

"You knew William Turner?" Will asked, leaning against the bars of his cell.

Pintel paused and leaned on his mop. "Ol' Bootstrap Bill. We knew him." Will frowned and I leaned forward on my barrel, curious to hear the story. "Never sat well with Bootstrap, what we did to Jack Sparrow. The mutiny and all. He said it wasn't right with the Code. That's why he sent off a piece of the treasure to you, as it were. He said we deserved to be cursed, and remain cursed." Will blinked, seemingly surprised by this revelation.

"Stupid blighter," Ragetti grumbled.

"Good man," Gibbs corrected. I cast a glance his way.

"Well, as you can imagine, that didn't sit too well with the Captain," Pintel continued.

"That didn't sit too well with the Captain at all," Ragetti said, practically giggling like a little girl. "Tell 'im what Barbossa did!"

"I'm telling the story!" Pintel growled at his companion. Ragetti lowered his head. Knowing Barbossa, I could hazard a guess what he did. "So, what the Captain did, he strapped a cannon to Bootstrap's bootstraps." Ragetti chuckled, repeating Pintel's words. "And last we saw of Ol' Bill Turner, he was sinking to the crushing black oblivion of Davy Jones' locker. 'Course, it was only after that we learned we needed his blood to lift the curse."

"That's what you call ironic," Ragetti said. He and Pintel shared a look and laughed. I sighed and lowered my head. Figured Barbossa would do something like that. Though it made me wonder why he didn't do something worse to me. Maybe Ragetti was right. I was roused from my thoughts as I heard more footsteps descending the stairs. I looked up to see Barbossa flanked by a few of the crew. He glanced at me and I quickly looked away, the wood of the barrel I was sitting on suddenly becoming very interesting.

"Bring him," Barbossa ordered, throwing the key at Ragetti.

Abby POV

I walked towards the Captain's Quarters where Elizabeth had gone to change out of her slip. "Lizzie?" I called, knocking on the door. "It's me." I heard Elizabeth give me permission to enter and I closed the door behind me. She came out from behind the changing screen, now dressed in sailor's clothes. She kept adjusting the coat, clearly uncomfortable.

"I look ridiculous," she complained.

"Better than being in just that slip," I told her. She sighed, knowing I was right. I walked over to the desk by the wall and patted the chair. She walked over and sat down. I began combing her hair with my fingers, separating it into three chunks. "Listen, I wanted to talk to you."

"About what?" She asked.

"About you accepting Norrington's proposal." Instantly, her face fell. She quickly tried to school her features into one of indiference, but the hands clenched in her lap told me another story.

"What about it?"

"It's just, I'm concerned about the nature of your acceptance," I admitted, braiding her hair.

"He's a fine man, Abby," she replied, repeating her words from the day he proposed.

"He is a fine man," I agreed. "But is he someone you could spend the rest of your life with, Lizzie?"

Elizabeth turned her head to meet my gaze briefly. "What are you saying?"

I sighed. "I'm saying, would you be happy being a Commodore's wife?" I finished braiding her hair and stood in front of her, placing a hand on her cheek. "I've seen the way you look at Will, Lizzie. You've fancied him for a long time. I just don't want you marrying James when your heart lies elsewhere. I may not agree with his actions all the time, but James is a good man and he doesn't deserve to be tied to a woman who will never truly love him." She lowered her head, thinking over my words. I placed a kiss to her hair and headed for the door, pausing with my hand on the handle. "Please consider your intentions. You owe it to yourself and James." With that, I left her to her thoughts. On deck, night had fallen. I spotted Jack leaning against the railing and walked over to join him. "I hope you have a plan for when we get to Isla de Muerta," I told him.

"Course I do, luv," Jack replied.

"You didn't tell him about the curse, did you?" I asked.

"I noticed neither you nor your sister did either," Jack pointed out. "For the same reason, I imagine."

"Well, considering I haven't actually experienced the curse first hand, I hardly feel like I'm the one who should tell him."

"That's a poor excuse, luv," Jack told me.

I hunched my shoulders slightly. "Yes, but I want Will back as much as Lizzie does and the Commodore wouldn't have risked the lives of his men if he knew."

"You could have gotten him drunk," Jack suggested flatly, indicating what happened last night.

"I had nothing to do with that," I protested, raising a finger. "I got drunk too, if you recall. Besides, that trick wouldn't work on him like it did you."

"Don't get me wrong, luv. I admire a person who's willing to do whatever's necessary," Jack assured me.

I glanced at the pirate. "Like you, you mean?"

"Peas in a pod, darling," he replied, gesturing between us. I smiled and chuckled quietly. I immediately stopped as I heard footsteps approaching. Norrington strode over and tossed Jack's compass back to him.

"With me, Sparrow," he ordered, turning on his heel. Jack glanced at me before following.

"Jack!" I called. The pirate turned, giving me a questioning look. I opened and closed my mouth, unsure of what to say. There were so many things I wanted to tell him, but I don't think they'd go down well, at least not within earshot of my father and Norrington. "Be careful," I finally said. Jack smiled and gave me a nod.

A few minutes later, I was being shoved into the Captain's cabin with Elizabeth.

"Sorry, but it's for your own safety!" Gillette retorted, not sounding the least bit sorry.

"I don't care what the Commodore ordered!" Elizabeth shouted. "I have to tell him – the pirates - they're cursed! They can't be killed!" We were tossed into the cabin.

"Don't worry, miss, he's already informed of that," Gillette said. "A little mermaid flopped up on deck and told him the whole story." He smirked as he closed the door.

"This is Jack Sparrow's doing!" Elizabeth shouted at the door. She huffed in frustration. "We have to do something. I don't quite trust Jack to keep his word."

"Jack will keep his word," I assured her. "But you're right, we need to do something." I looked around the room and picked up one of the blankets from the bed. "Help me tie these together."

Evelyn POV

The crew followed Barbossa into the caves once more. There was an air of anticipation as we entered the cavern. Barbossa tossed a green apple in the air, making his way to the chest. I stayed close to Pintel and Ragetti, still not wanting to talk to my Captain. Pintel walked up behind Will who was being pushed along with his hands bound behind his back.

"No reason to fret," Pintel assured the young man cheerfully. "Just a prick of the finger. A few drops of blood."

"No mistakes this time. He's only half Turner. We spill it all," Twigg growled, grabbing Will and moving him forward.

"I guess there is reason to fret," Pintel told Ragetti. The two sniggered and moved further into the cave. I looked after Will sadly. I figured they'd kill him. They had no reason to keep him around after the curse was broken. Will was brought to the stone chest by Koehler and Twigg, the medallion dangling from his neck. I hung back, deciding to stay with the group instead of standing near Barbossa as I usually did. Barbossa grabbed the knife from the chest. The crew began to chant, eager to finally be rid of the curse.

I had mixed feelings about the whole affair. On one hand, I was glad they were finally going to be able to lift the curse they have been living with for so long. On the other hand, lifting the curse meant killing Will. Over the last several years I have killed many men. Such was the pirate life, but it was something I never really thought about. I'm afraid I would break if I did. I think I kind of view it like a video game, in a way. You can go around killing the villain's goons, but it never really bothers you because they're not characters you get attached to. They're just obstacles to your end goal of saving the world or collecting the treasure or finding some long lost city. But as with many video games, you meet side characters and inevitably get attached. With any luck, they'll make it through to the end. Will was like one of those side characters you get attached to and unfortunately it looked like he wasn't going to be making it to the end of the game.

"Excuse me. Pardon me. Beg pardon." I turned at the familiar voice and my jaw dropped as I spotted Jack Sparrow himself making his way through the crowd. The chanting began to die down as the pirates realized he was there. Barbossa cut off in the middle of his speech as he spotted Jack.

"Jack!" Will cried in surprise.

"It's not possible," Barbossa murmured, staring in shock at his former captain.

"Not probable," Jack corrected. He tried to walk up to Barbossa, but Bo'sun clamped a hand on his shoulder.

"Where's Elizabeth and Abby?!" Will demanded.

"They're safe, just like I promised. Elizabeth's all set to marry Norrington just like she promised. And you get to die for her, just like you promised. So we're all men of our word really, except for Elizabeth, who is in fact...a woman," Jack answered. I smiled in relief, but quickly hid it. Abby was alive!

"Shut up! You're next!" Barbossa shouted, pointing the knife at him. He moved the knife to Will's throat.

"You don't want to be doing that, mate," Jack warned.

Barbossa glanced at Jack, eyes narrowed. "No, I really think I do."

Jack shrugged. "Your funeral." Barbossa rolled his eyes, but I could see Jack had peaked his curiosity.

"Why don't I want to do it?" Barbossa demanded, whirling back to Jack.

"Well, because-" Jack turned and smacked Bo'sun's hand from his shoulder. "Because the H.M.S. Dauntless, pride of the Royal Navy, is floating just offshore, waiting for you." Barbossa's eyes widened as the rest of the crew mumbled amongst themselves. Jack moved up to the stone chest. "Just hear me out, mate. You order your men to row out to the Dauntless, they do what they do best." Laughter rippled through the crew. "Robert's your uncle, Fannie's your aunt, there you are with two ships. The makings of your very own fleet. Of course, you'll take the grandest as your flagship, and who's to argue? But what of the Pearl? Name me Captain. I'll sail under your colors, I'll give you ten percent of me plunder, and you get to introduce yourself as 'Commodore Barbossa.' Savvy?"

"And I suppose in exchange, you want me not to kill the whelp?" Barbossa inquired, glancing at Will.

"No, no no, not at all. By all means, kill the whelp. Just not yet. Wait to lift the curse…until the opportune moment." As he said this, Jack looked at Will. Will blinked, seeming to understand something. I narrowed my eyes. What was Jack planning? Barbossa seemed to sense something was off as he looked between the two suspiciously. "For instance," Jack continued, reaching down and grabbing a handful of Aztec coins. "After you've killed Norrington's men...Every...Last...One." Jack dropped a coin with every word. Something didn't seem right to me. I couldn't imagine Jack so willingly working with his enemy. Barbossa, however, considered Jack's proposal.

"You've been planning this from the beginning. Ever since you learned my name," Will accused Jack.

"Yeah," Jack replied unashamedly.

"I want fifty per cent of your plunder," Barbossa declared.

"Fifteen," Jack countered.

"Forty."

"Twenty-five, and I'll buy you the hat. A really big one, Commodore," Jack bribed. Barbossa grinned and I knew Jack had him. He always had a thing for big hats.

"We have an accord," Barbossa agreed, holding out his hand. Jack shook it, sealing the deal. They both turned back to the crew.

"All hands - to the boats!" Jack shouted. Barbossa shot him a glare and Jack quickly backtracked. "Apologies, you give the orders."

"Gents...take a walk!" Barbossa ordered. Jack's grin vanished. Barbossa's order seemed to throw him.

"Not to the boats?" Jack questioned. Barbossa didn't reply. I glanced at Jack apprehensively. I had a really bad feeling about this deal, but there was nothing that I could do.

Abby POV

Elizabeth and I worked furiously to tie all the sheets together to create a rope. We looked up only for a moment at a knock at the door.

"Elizabeth? Abby?" Our father called. Neither of us answered, continuing with our task. "I just want you to know. I believe you made a very good decision today ...Couldn't be more proud of you. But, you know, even a good decision, if made for the wrong reasons ...could be a wrong decision." We didn't hear the rest of his words as we gathered our makeshift rope and went to the deck off the cabin. I tied one end to the rail and tossed the rest over the side. We carefully climbed down into a longboat waiting below.