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Beyond World's End

By Ecri

Chapter 6

The Endeavor had dropped anchor. Beckett refused to budge until Will Turner was properly interrogated. Will sputtered as he was hit again, wondering if the Singapore pirates had influenced Beckett or if the reverse were true.

"I have a-already t-told B-Beckett where the Pirates c-convene their c-court!" He cursed the weakness that forced a stutter from him, but the continuous beatings, the dunkings in salt water until he swore he'd swallowed an ocean had taken a toll. He was weary beyond belief. He only survived by thinking of Elizabeth. Unsure if she was his or if she would pledge herself to Jack once the Pearl caught up with the Empress, he could not deny his love for her. Reason could not turn love into hate or despair. Logic could not release Love's hold upon his heart. He was hers even if she were not his. With nothing else to cling to, he found it impossible not to cling to her.

Yes, he wished to free his father, but he could not sustain his will to live on a dream he had but barely tasted. The dream he had for Elizabeth had been in his heart for half his life. It was not soured by recent events.

The men did not answer him, and he found himself relieved when Beckett entered the brig.

"I trust your accommodations are comfortable."

Will glared. "I have told you what you need to know!"

"Yes. You have. My concern is what you thought was in it for you."

"I told you! I bargain for my father's life and for myself and Elizabeth!" His confusion as to why this was happening was apparent as he struggled to learn why he was being mistreated when he had come to offer all Beckett wanted.

"Ah, yes. You mentioned that. I somehow doubt you, boy." Beckett sneered.

Will would have taken a step toward the man, but he was restrained and unable to stand unless supported. "I have dealt in good faith. Why have you not?"

Beckett seemed bored. "I knew your father. Did you know that?"

"Of course you do. He serves on the Dutchman." Will replied.

"I didn't say I know him. I said I knew him. Not since he joined the Dutchman's crew, but long ago. Before there was ever a curse on Aztec gold."

Will blinked away the water still dripping into his eyes from the most recent dunking. Shock stole his voice. He could not respond.

Beckett smiled, but it was a joyless thing. Feral, dark, deceptive, it represented only a pleasure at causing pain, confusion, and death. "Your father. Surely you expected by now that we were friends, Sparrow, Turner, Barbossa, and myself."

Will had known, of course, that others must have known his father aside from the crew of the Pearl, but Beckett…friends with his father and with Jack? Consternation turned to defiance. "You lie!"

"Do I?" Beckett turned to the other men in the room. "Secure him and go."

The men holding Will up tied him to the wall and left. Will struggled as best he could, but he was nearly spent. He'd been adrift in the sea overnight before Beckett had found him at dawn. It had been a most unpleasant night, clinging to a barrel with a dead man tied to it, paddling for all he was worth in an attempt to move swiftly and not think about the sharks whose fins he saw peeping above the waterline from time to time.

Before that, sailing to World's End to find Jack Sparrow…and brooding over the kiss he'd seen Elizabeth and Jack share…the emotional turmoil had left him well and truly spent. Now, hearing more information about his father from a stranger…no, not a stranger--an enemy…did not sit well with him.

As he struggled feebly against his bonds, Beckett approached him and took his face roughly in his hand. Venomous, Beckett stared into Will's eyes. "You seek to free the man from Davy Jones' service, but it is all that he deserves."

Will struggled, but could not tear away. "What my father has or has not done is irrelevant to my vow." Determination flashed in his eyes succeeding where struggle failed. Beckett released him. "I will save him from the Dutchman. He will be free."

Beckett smirked recovering himself. "The Dutchman is a doomed vessel."

"That's a matter of degrees. The men who serve Jones have made their deals with him. If he were to die…"

"Someone would have to take his place."

That was what Governor Swann had said. He narrowed his eyes and looked intently at Beckett. "Is that true, or did you simply lie to Governor Swann as you killed him."

"How did you…?" Beckett cut himself off, and Will smiled triumphantly. Beckett would wonder how he'd come by the information, and he had been so surprised, he'd been unable to deny the accusation of murder. Somehow, someday, that admission might be important. He might use it to cleanse the reputation of the Governor, or as leverage against Beckett at some future date. Mentally, he also groaned at the realization that he was thinking more like Jack.

Beckett turned his back on the boy for a moment. "Your loyalty is pointless. None return it. Your woman has abandoned you. She would have returned to England while you were off looking for Sparrow in order to free her."

Will's eyes widened slightly, and he realized that his surprise at the information had been Beckett's goal. He could not believe that Elizabeth would abandon him. He shook off the doubts that whispered to him, and blinked to bring his emotions under control.

"Your father has abandoned you more times than I could count. Do you think he ever spared you a thought…?"

"I do not care to hear your words, Beckett. I have told you, my father's actions are irrelevant to my own. As are Elizabeth's. And Jack's. I do what I do for myself. Because to do otherwise betrays me as well as them."

"Then, Mr. Turner, you are a fool."

"I have been called worse. I have told you everything you need to find the Brethren Court. Release me."

Beckett laughed again, and Will was reminded of Barbossa's crew when he had threatened them for Elizabeth's release only to be forced to offer himself since he had nothing else of value but the blood of Bootstrap Bill Turner.

"I may release you, whelp."

Will sighed mentally at the slight that seemed to follow him everywhere.

"But if I do release you, it will be at a time and place of my choosing and not on your demand."

**

The Black Pearl made her way in silent solitude to Shipwreck Cove. Her black prow cut through the black water leaving no sign of her passing. Jack and Barbossa prepared to meet the court, but Jack first scanned the area, eyes searching for Sao Feng's vessel and for the Endeavor. Elizabeth and Will would need saving, and he was the only one to do it. He told himself that Will was safe. He went with the offer of information. He had leverage. There would be no need to harm him. Jack was doing his best to ignore the fact that Beckett didn't need anything mundane like reasons to harm people. He rubbed ruefully at the brand on his wrist that was proof of that. Even with those not quite acknowledged dangers, it was Elizabeth who was a concern. Jack realized now he should have left someone aboard with her. Will had been right. Leaving her alone with Sao Feng's men had been a mistake. Would they have permitted her to hold onto her ship? Jack had been the victim of mutiny before, and he dreaded the thought of what mutiny against a female captain might entail.

Whatever it was, he prepared himself for Will's demands that they find her and save her as soon as he made his way back to the Pearl. He'd likely be back aboard once the Brethren Court returned to their respective ships.

His eyes scanned the horizon. They should be at the Cove soon enough. He could make out the shadowy outline of it all just a bit ahead, though the moonlight was less than bright tonight.

He wasn't best pleased about the way things with Tia Dalma were going. He had to persuade her she was less interested in Will Turner than she thought she was. If only he had some idea if there were someone else nearby to whom the lady's affections might be transferred.

He shuddered at the notion of anyone being at her mercy as he had once been, least of all Will, but if it were someone like Beckett, he wouldn't shed a tear. His thoughts cast back to that time long ago when he'd managed to betray Beckett and save his own skin…though the betraying had been Beckett's goal initially. He'd plotted for Tia Dalma to gain Jack's company for eternity.

That was what she wanted now from Will.

It was weeks after Jack had gained the compass. He and his crew had sailed in search of treasure, though Jack's reading of the infernal device left a great deal to be desired. He'd pointed them in an endlessly altering set of directions and finally found one meager treasure. It had whetted the appetites of every pirate aboard, but Jack had been unable to find a second one. In desperation, he'd sailed for Tia Dalma once again.

Beckett had more to do with that decision than Jack liked to admit, but the man had a devious streak that Jack would envy in later years. The man had whispered in Jack's ear, spoken up loudly when able, and had manipulated Jack into believing that returning to Dalma had been his own idea. In fact, Beckett had made a deal with the woman.

Jack was the bone of contention.

Returning to the swampy, eerily lit area Tia Dalma called home, Jack had felt a sense of doom descending upon him. It was Bootstrap Bill who had asked him about it.

"But Jack," Bill whispered, "you act as though you don't want to be here."

"Of course I want…" He stopped. Did he want to be there? He had thought…what? That Tia Dalma might explain the use of the compass better than she had before? That she might offer him something of more use than a compass that pointed to what you wanted?

Bill had been right to worry, and once again, if it had not been for Bootstrap Bill, the Legend of Captain Jack Sparrow would have been finished before it was written.

Jack had stormed into Dalma's shack and when he'd seen her, he forgot all else. Yet, it had seemed he was watching events unfold rather than participating in them. He could not recall if anyone else had accompanied him into the dwelling, but all he saw was Tia Dalma. She moved toward him, her body swaying hypnotically, and before he could be aware of anything at all he was hers. Even now he could only recall snatches of what Bootstrap Bill later told him had been days. One particularly enduring flash appeared to him even now at least several times a year. She stood above him, her hand resting on his chest, a faint outline of blood surrounding her dark skin to discolor his tanned chest. The pain he recalled vividly.

Another flash…Beckett had appeared and was arguing with her as Jack lay spent and exhausted, paralyzed by some unnatural means, on the floor of the shack. He heard a loud crash and forced his head to turn seeing the book Beckett had thrown at Tia Dalma and which now lay open very close to him.

There were words, and at first, Jack had thought the book must be upside down, but then he realized they were in another language. One he recognized. He wasn't fluent by any means, but he'd been to Singapore and had seen the words written there, though he knew they were not of the language that Sao Feng spoke. He could pick out enough. What he saw enraged him.

Fury set him free.

His eyes were locked on words he should not have been able to read, yet the ones he had recognized had given him enough of an idea of what was happening. Now, he spoke the few words he could read…centered on the facing page, he muttered the language and, though he could manage little more than a whisper, his own rage and fear at what these two planned to do gave the words resonance.

Their attention, fixed until then on each other, was drawn to him as the last word echoed through the room.

"No!" Tia Dalma screamed, her anguish and frustration piercing his heart though not enough to make him regret what he'd done.

Beckett's words were more colorful, but no less vehemently uttered. He threw himself across the room, reaching out to the book, but Jack, uttering the words that countered everything that had been done to him and more, stood and scooped up the book on his own. His eyes blazed in understanding of the evil the pair had plotted as he snapped the book shut in one hand.

"Well, now." He stared at the two for a moment, allowing his own venom to seep into his tone. "That's interesting." He strode up to Beckett and was gratified to see the man actually take a step backwards as though afraid of him.

Jack stopped, his eyes never moving. "What is it? You want my ship?"

Cutler Beckett laughed. It was a hearty laugh, full of disbelief and malice. "Your problem, Jack, is that you think so small."

"Your problem, Cutler, is that you don't comprehend the beauty of having a ship of your own." Jack spat the words, not sure why Beckett would be plotting against him if not to get his ship.

Beckett walked slowly toward Jack, his own eyes almost black in the dimly lit room. "I don't want your ship," he sneered. "I want it all."

"All?" This puzzled Jack. He waved one hand in vague motions in the air. "When you say all, what is it you mean, exactly?"

"All. Everything. Supreme power. To rule the seas, and everything upon them, in them, on them, or near them."

"Looking for Godlike omnipotence, then, are you? Well, mate, that would take some doing…and I don't see how making me hers…" His eyes slipped back to Tia Dalma and realization smacked him more fiercely than any of his female acquaintances had ever done. "You need her." He stared at Tia Dalma. "I was the price for giving him this? You can't give him this! It can't be within your powers or you'd have freed yourself long ago!"

She moved silently toward him, her face wet with what might have been spent tears or perhaps something else entirely. Her pace was languid and deliberate. "I cannot free myself, Jack Sparrow, but I can grant 'im what 'im needs to know to be welcome to de family of de Gods."

"Ah, so…polytheism is your cup of tea…again, that's interesting, but," he looked Beckett in the eyes. "You're no god, mate."

Cutler Beckett turned red, then purple. "I will be."

"You don't have it in you." Jack insisted shaking his head. Beckett moved swiftly, drawing his pistol and aiming it at Jack's heart. Jack was unarmed, but for the book, and just as he was about to throw it, a shot rang out. He heard a scream, but his eyes were closed and it took him a moment to accept that he had neither screamed nor fallen to the floor writhing in agony. Cautiously, he opened one eye to see Beckett cradling his bleeding right arm against his chest and glowering at Bootstrap Bill Turner, who stood above the man, his own gun still smoking and aimed at Tia Dalma.

He'd left Beckett there with Tia Dalma, though he'd taken the book with him. He told them it was the payment he demanded for being used. Tia Dalma had intended to make Jack her immortal lover, tied to her forever, and able only to do her whim until such time as she grew weary of him or found someone new. The book held the spell that would have bound him to her, and much more besides. Godhood for Beckett, immortal servitude for himself, and one step closer to Tia Dalma's freedom if Beckett had indeed agreed to give her his vote in the Brethren Court as soon as he had commandeered the Pearl.

The Pearl was not his ultimate goal, but she was a step toward achieving everything he and Tia Dalma had wanted.

Ultimate domination had been Beckett's goal from the beginning. What Jack had forgotten was that when Bootstrap Bill had shot Beckett's right arm, Beckett had vowed revenge on both Bill and Jack.

Suddenly, Jack wished for nothing else but the sight of Will Turner safe and whole before his eyes. Instead, he'd stupidly sent the boy to face his father's oldest enemy. He forced his eyes upwards and whispered to the heavens. "Look after him," then, realizing that sounded more like an order than a request he added, "please."

**

Captain Elizabeth Swann. It rolled off the tongue rather nicely, thought the newly appointed Captain. As her ship made way for the Brethren Court, she turned to face the only person aboard newer to the experience than she. "James," she called to him, glad beyond words to have a familiar face beside her once more. "Thank you."

Norrington looked like a lost man. His eyes were full of regret, and impulsively, Elzabeth took his hand. "Really, James, I must thank you. There was no way out for me. Without your help..."

He interrupted her. "Where did it all go wrong for us, do you think?" He paused, his eyes faraway, yet still drinking in the depths of hers.

"We were a good match. Everyone said so. Was it me, Elizabeth?"

She shook her head sadly. "No, James, no. You are a good man..."

He laughed. "You didn't think so aboard the Dutchman."

"You were my captor."

He nodded. "That's all I ever was. I trapped you into marrying me." He cut her off as she opened her mouth to protest. "You know it's true. You would never have agreed to marry me if you could have found some other way to rescue the blacksmith."

"His name is Will Turner."

"I know his name." Norrington didn't try to hide the bitterness in his voice as his eyes turned to hers, and she could see the pain in them now. Pain caused by having everything you thought you wanted within your grasp and losing it for no reason that you could discern.

"Oh, James…" she whispered the words not really knowing what to say to him.

"I have lived my life by half-measures," he told her. "I see it clearly now. Everything so calculated, so precise." He looked her in the eye, his hands gripping her shoulders, and she found herself unable to look away. "I will help you, Elizabeth. My career in the Royal Navy, may never recover, but to make ammends for my deeds, I will help you to wed your Will Turner." He hugged her then, and she returned it wondering how scandalous her father would see such an embrace, and then wishing she hadn't thought of him, since she still had no time for grief.

When they finally parted, she took his face in her hands. "You are a good man, James Norrington. Remember that."

He nodded, but she could see he didn't believe it. Desperate to give him some modicum of comfort, she told him the only thing she could think of. "My father always admired you, James. He always said what a good man you were, and he wrote many letters on your behalf to London...he...always said, he s..." and suddenly the words caught in her throat. She could no longer speak of her father without acknowledging that he was gone.

James, further proving himself in her eyes, embraced her firmly, whispered shushing sounds in her ear, and let Captain Elizabeth Swann cry on his shoulder.

**

Her tears should have been his undoing. His own grief at the thought that he had somehow caused her father's death, by action or inaction, had blossomed deep within his gut the moment he'd learned of it. Now, as he held her, he realized he was feeling oddly…empowered. He had purpose once more, and he would see his task done before he succumbed either to the Royal Navy's punishment or to God's judgment.

He pulled slightly away from her and peered down into her tear-streaked face. "Elizabeth, may I assume you know the reason for the Brethren Court being called?"

Elizabeth shook her head. I know Barbossa is involved…"

"Barbossa? Isn't he dead?"

She shook her head. "Not anymore. Nor is Jack. We…brought him back."

Norrington blinked a few times staring at her and unsure what to make of her words. Back? From the dead? "You brought him back?"

"It's a long story, James, and we don't have the time for it just now."

He nodded. "Well, then, Captain Elizabeth Swann, what are your orders?"

"You outrank me, Admiral."

He shook his head, raising a hand to linger on her cheek and brushed the last of her tears away. "Not aboard your own ship, and certainly not among a pirate crew. They will not heed my orders."

"We'll be lucky if they heed mine."

"Give the orders, Elizabeth. Say the words like you know they have no choice but to make your desires into reality and they will heed you." His eyes, sad and despondent as they saw not her, but some imagined moment from a dream or a wish, cleared as he blinked them and stepped away, hands behind his back as though awaiting her orders.

Elizabeth grinned and set to work.

Norrington watched her. She seemed in her element. She seemed more at home here, commanding Malaysian pirates on the open sea, than she'd ever seemed at a formal tea in Port Royal. The one place he couldn't imagine her was in a smithy keeping house and making babies.

He pushed the thought from his mind. It was unkind and even unseemly to imagine a lady of her standing in such an intimate way: never mind that she could have been his wife by now.

Norrington could not help but wonder, when things went drastically wrong, was it possible to set them right, or were there only dreams, regrets and what ifs to ponder for all eternity?

**

That the Brethren Court had agreed to meet was in itself unusual, but the need to stop what seemed to be the inexorable demise of Piracy had called for some sort of stand. Would they, Barbossa wondered, be wiling to make the stand he intended? Tia Dalma was a wild card. She had her own agenda, but he was sure she hadn't been entirely honest about it. He had little choice in the matter, however. It was the pact he'd made for his resurrection. Tia Dalma had brought him back from beyond, but the first thing he'd seen was her face inches from his own. She had taken no chances. He'd been tied and she'd held a knife to his throat and a gun aimed at his chest. He had to support her or she would destroy him, and he knew she didn't need the knife and gun to do it. It was a debt he had to pay in order to gain his freedom. Failure meant either death or indentured servitude to Tia Dalma until such time as she was released…or perhaps in perpetuity.

The Brethren gathered, and in order to achieve his goals, he had to take control. He did just that. Blustering about and declaring the best possible course of action, moving things along so quickly and rushing

everyone through...he felt confident that he would be victorious.

The Pirate Lords were an ornery bunch, as trustworthy and deadly as a pack of scorpions and unwilling to do a thing without knowing what was in it for them. He smiled at the thought. A better bunch of pirates you'd never meet, and like Jack, he owed them all money.

Ms. Swann...Captain Swann's appearance nothing compared to the arrival of the man standing beside her. "Admiral Norrington, is it? Surely you wouldn't be thinking of runnin' away from home and becomin' a pirate!"

Laughter was light as the pirates present put hands to sword hilts. Captain Swann stepped between them and the man at her right. "This man is my First Mate."

"Your mate? I wonder how Will would feel about that," Sparrow muttered, but Barbossa was sure Swann hadn't heard.

"He's a good man and a good pirate," she declared. Norrington did wince at that, and Barbossa wasn't the only one to notice it.

"Is he here by choice or by orders?" Mistress Ching asked. "Is he perhaps meant to infiltrate our Court and report back to the Navy?"

Elizabeth was about to speak, but was cut off when James Norrington, apparently tired of being spoken about or defended, stepped forward, brushed past Elizabeth and spoke to the assembled Pirates. Barbossa noticed, as he no doubt was meant to, that Norrrington's hand rested lightly on the hilt of a sword. It was a good sword if Barbossa was any judge of such matters, and he was.

"The Navy's interests in these parts are represented by Beckett. I have decided he does not represent me." He looked at Elizabeth. "He is not a good man, but he is an exceedingly...effective...pirate."

There was silence as the pirates decided if they were being insulted, but Jack Sparrow stepped forward before any decision was reached.

"Aye, we all knew he was a bad one, and only a pirate could turn privateerin' into a legitimate business, so we'll move on. We need to rid the seas of the likes of Beckett. We'll ne'er be free to come and go as we please if we don't."

Elizabeth nodded. "We have to fight! Beckett is on his way here now!"

A roar went up from the crowd as pirates debated how that was possible. Some drew swords and stepped menacingly toward Norrington certain he'd brought Beckett with him.

Captain Swann leaned closer to Jack. "Where's Will?"

"Not among us." Jack hastily replied. Barbossa found that interesting as he'd also wondered what had become of the Turner boy.

When he heard a reference to the East India Trading Company, he pounced on it. "And to that end, and by end I mean elimination, we should discuss undoing a great wrong." Now that he had their attention, he began to

speak of the mistakes of the past and the need to undo them.

He saw it then. Jack Sparrow would argue against him. He couldn't have said what triggered the knowledge. Sparrow did not fidget or sway, or wince or narrow his eyes, but as sure as he was standing, Barbossa was certain Sparrow would argue against the release.

Barbossa waved his hands. "We're gettin' away from the main goal of this Court."

"And what goal is that, Barbossa?" Jack asked quietly.

"We're to call on Poseidon…"

"No need to do that," Jack said.

"What do you mean by that?"

Jack shook his head and waved a hand by his ear as though waving away an annoying bug. "I'll get to that. For now, Captain Swann is right. We need to fight Beckett. The Endeavor is coming, and it's bringing the Flying Dutchman. We have to make a stand!"

**

Jack Sparrow hadn't expected the Court to turn out with him electing Elizabeth Swann King of the Pirates, but you did what the moment demanded. Accepting Elizabeth and Norrington aboard his ship, Jack looked the new King in the eye. "Well, your majesty, what were ye thinkin' would

be your first order of business."

"We have to fight!"

"So you've said. We need to declare our intentions to Beckett. So..." he turned to Norrington. "This doesn't sit well with me, mate, but I'll need to speak to you and Eliz...er..the Capt...the King in private." He ushered them away from Barbossa's prying eyes.

Once behind closed doors, Jack again asked Elizabeth her intentions. "What is your real first order of business, Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth wore a look of momentary confusion, but the silence was enough to allow the new King of the Pirates to hear once more the wishes of her heart. "To find Will."

"Aye, and I know where he is. He's on the Endeavor."

"What? Elizabeth and Norrington asked at the same moment.

Jack held up a hand. "It's all right. He went to offer information."

"What are you talking about? Beckett will kill him!"

Jack's heart skipped a beat, but he forced himself not to believe her. "He'll be fine. He had information for sale."

Elizabeth frowned and crossed her arms. "Jack, what are you up to? Does Will know what's going on, or have you left him in the dark again?"

Jack swallowed and swayed to cover any outward sign of distress. He hadn't told Will everything. Well, he hadn't told WIll much. All he'd told the boy was to be sure to get Beckett and the Dutchman to the Court. He knew Will could do that much, and he'd been too distracted by strategy to worry about Will's state of affairs as far as Beckett went. He was reminded of the last time he'd seen Beckett. The man had been ruthless then, and he doubted he'd acquired any ruth along the way.

Beckett had been, well, not a good man, but a better man once. He'd gotten greedy and power hungry and his appetite for tales of the macabre had taken him to dark places. He was always looking for the right combination of events that would render him in command of the sea, and by extension, the world.

Jack sat at his desk and told all of this to Elizabeth and Norrington. He was a bit aggravated that he was revealing so much in front of two people who'd tried to kill him, but there was little time before they had to act, and Norrington was his ace in the hole.

"Beckett was once a pirate."

"What? Elizabeth and Norrington asked at the same moment.

Jack smirked. "You've got to stop doing that. He was a mate of mine back in the days before the Pearl. He, Bootstrap, and I moved from port to port in this small boat, and I mean boat. Ship was not a word that would fit this beauty, though she was a beauty." He shook himself from his reverie. "I'll tell you all the details one day, but for now, all you need to know is he thinks like a pirate."

"And you sent Will right into his hands?" Elizabeth's incredulity surprised Jack. "Beckett already had a death sentence against the two of us!"

"He'll keep Will alive long enough to get here."

"How can you be so certain?"

Jack smiled. "Because the one thing Will wants it to find you."

"The compass..." Elizabeth whispered just realizing that Jack did not have it.

To Be Continued