Okay I have to apologize to y'all (Yes I said y'all). My friend had sent me this chapter around Jan. 2. It was my fault that it wasn't up. The reason for that was because I had so much testing to do. Like Exams, ACT stuff, ect. My friend kept reminding me and I kept forgetting. So yell at me for the late update. Oh and my friend wrote you a note.

Fondest greetings to you all! My deepest gratitude to my reviewer, kungfukitty2006. Your review made me very happy, and I thank you very much! And now, dear readers, read on. Oh, and for the sake of my friend here, I shall explain what O.G. stands for. "O.G." means "Opera Ghost" (Finally she tells me). I remain, dear ones, your obedient servant,

O.G.

Chap. 9

Jack stood at the helm, guiding the ship in the general direction of Port Royal. By now, Will was strong enough to walk short distances. Jack was glad of the improvement. And he definitely knew that he was improving...Will was already showing some of his characteristic stubbornness. He had already had to drug him once, and he was quite prepared to do it again. Despite Will's protests, he wasn't as well as he claimed, and both he and Jack knew it. Will simply chose to ignore it, though. Jack wasn't about to ignore it, however. He could be stubborn, too. Jack turned as he heard footsteps approaching, and it happened to be said blacksmith whose health had been the foremost thought in Jack's mind lately. A little voice in Jack's head chimed in that he shouldn't be up and walking around, but Jack's thoughts returned when Will spoke.

"Good morning, Jack."

"Mornin', Will." Jack was silent for a few moments, then began to speak again. "We're headed for Port Royal. I figured we might as well drop you off, seein' as you are much better from...being stabbed." Jack couldn't stop the guilty look that stole across his face, but he quickly masked it. However, Will had seen it, and a suspicious look came into his eyes.

"Jack...is something the matter?"

"Nothing!" Jack quickly responded, a little too quickly. "Nothing at all." He turned around and began to fiddle with the wheel.

Will laid his hand on Jack's shoulder and spoke softly. "Jack...I know something is the matter." At his point he forced Jack to turn around and look into his eyes. "Tell me..."

Jack averted his eyes as fast as possible. "Nothing's wrong, Will...nothing."

Will frowned. Something was clearly bothering Jack, and he would find out what it was. He wouldn't press Jack to tell him, but if he kept this act up, he would force him to. He didn't take kindly to anything that made Jack like this, and if Jack thought he was the only one who cared for a friend's well-being, he was sadly mistaken. If Jack could worry over him like an old mother hen, he could most certainly do the same thing over Jack. Will almost smiled at the thought of what Jack's face looked like if he told him he was a mother hen. He was sorely tempted to do so, but he figured that now probably wouldn't be the best time. He would, as Jack would say, wait until the opportune moment. But now wasn't the time, especially with Jack making a fuss over him...just the other day, Jack had been going about dropping broad suggestions that he rest, which Will had promptly ignored. Selective hearing...very useful thing, that. But it was hard sometimes, avoiding Jack's mothering...Jack had already succeeded in drugging him once, and he wasn't about to let it happen again...when he had woken up, Jack had been faced with a very unhappy, annoyed blacksmith...but for now, he wouldn't be the only one being watched by a friend...Will could keep a very close eye on people when he had a mind to, and he was very determined to do so even more this time around. Yes, something strange was going on in Jack's mind, and he would find out what it was. Stranger than usual, that is. Will sighed and walked away. At his point there wasn't anything he could do but wait. He was glad that they were heading for Port Royal, but he wasn't going to leave the ship until whatever it was had been found out by him. He absolutely refused to let Jack keep this up. He had had a notion that something was wrong, but he wasn't completely sure until now. He would speak to Jack later. Alone.

XxX

That night, Will was waiting for Jack. When he came in, he turned around to find Will's eyes fixed on him. Will began to speak.

"Jack, I know something's bothering you. Now what is it?"

Jack looked away and began to fidget. "Will, nothing is wrong at all. Why would you think that?"

Will got a determined, stubborn look in his eyes. Two could play that game. "Oh, no reason, only that you've been avoiding my eyes for the longest time, act strangely around me, and are stranger than usual."

Jack became indignant. "I am not strange!"

Will just raised his eyebrows at that. There was silence for a few seconds, then Will continued on. "Jack...you need to tell someone."

"Nothing is wrong. Nothing," Jack emphasized.

Will could tell Jack didn't want to talk about it, but he wasn't going to just let it go. "Jack, you have to tell someone sometime, and I'm not going to leave this ship until you do. You can tell me now or later, it doesn't matter which. However, I am not going to just sit here and let whatever it is eat away at you! I am not a simpleton. Both you and I know that something is wrong, and I intend to find out just what it is!" At this point, Will got up and walked out, frustrated and muttering to himself how certain pirates were too stubborn for their own good.

Jack sighed and sat down. He couldn't let Will know about it. He couldn't let Will know that it was his guilt that was disturbing his mind. He just couldn't...but he knew Will would find out eventually. He wouldn't let Will find out if he had anything to do with it, though. Will would probably try to convince him it was alright, but it wasn't alright. He didn't know why he couldn't tell Will...he just couldn't. Jack sighed again. It was going to be a long trip back to Port Royal.

XxX

It was night again. Jack had just guided the ship behind one of the cliffs of Port Royal. That way, the ship would be hidden from view as he...accompanied Will back. It had been 4 days since he and Will had had that conversation, and neither were any further on changing their opinions. Will had remained steadfast in his resolve to not leave until he found out what it was occupying Jack's mind. However, Jack could be just as, if not more, resolute than Will Turner when he had a mind to be. So, he had effectively drugged Will. He grinned. Will had not been happy when it started to take effect and he had realized what had happened. Actually, he was quite certain that he would have been dead a thousand times over if looks could kill. The grin faded from his face as the now-routine guilt came to the front of his mind and he thought about how he should be dead after what he had done to Will. He quickly shook his head and forced his thoughts to what he needed to do. Jack walked over to where Gibbs was standing on the deck and began a hushed conversation with him.

"Is the rowboat ready?"

"Aye, Captain. It's just as you said it should be."

"Good. I'll be takin' off then with Will."

"Captain..."

"Aye?"

"What if something happens?"

Jack was silent for a few seconds then replied to Gibbs' query. "Keep to the Code."

"Aye, Captain."

In a short while, Jack was rowing ashore with a sleeping Will alongside of him in the boat. Soon, he arrived at his destination, and he climbed onto the dock as quietly as possible. He would have to be very careful if he didn't want to be caught. The guards at night tended to be less in number, but they were more watchful. Unless they were Murtogg and Mullroy, of course. One could never be too careful, though, especially when one happened to be Captain Jack Sparrow. Wherever he was, mishaps and/or chaos seemed to follow, so he decided he was going to try to go one time without something going wrong. He hefted Will over his shoulders and set out. As he kept to the shadows, though, his mind was so preoccupied that he failed to notice the soldier creeping up behind him until it was too late.

"What are you doing sneaking around these docks at night?"

Jack almost jumped at the sound of the voice. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, wondering why these things always happened to him, then turned around and responded while laying Will across a couple of crates.

"My business at these docks is none of your business, so therefore I needn't be telling you my business when it isn't your business at all and has nothing to do with your business. Since it has nothing to do with your business, it might confuse you, and you might ending up doing my business while you're supposed to be going about your business, and that wouldn't be good, so just mind your own business, aye?"

The soldier just blinked a few seconds and Jack took advantage of those few seconds. He struck the man as hard as he could. This began a short scuffle which resulted in the man being knocked out by Jack and hidden behind some barrels very close to where Will currently was. He leaned over the man and whispered a last comment to him. "That is why you should always mind your own business. When you interfere with the business of others, you never know what might happen."

Jack then picked up Will again and made his way along the streets relatively well, with no one noticing him save a noisy bird, which was quickly shut up when Jack tied its beak together with a bit of rope that had very conveniently been lying on the ground.

At last, Jack arrived at his destination. He placed Will's sword by its owner and started for the door. Suddenly, he heard the shouting outside in the streets and began to wonder how the bird had managed to tell everyone he was here if its beak was tied shut. Then he remembered the guard. Oh. It had been him, not the bird. It seemed that his comrades had found him and raised the alarm. Well, if they wanted a rousing chase, that was what they were going to get. He decided that the door probably wasn't the best choice in this situation, so he jumped out the window. As he ran along alleyways, he was deciding that Port Royal was not a good place for him. Every time he came here, something happened. It was not fair at all. Oh, other pirates had bad luck, for sure, but every single time he came here something like this happened. It was quite disproportionate to the amount of bad luck other pirates had. He swore inwardly as a soldier saw his movement in the shadows and decided to call his friends to investigate. Ah, so now the more interesting part of the Sparrow-hunt would begin. He ran amidst shouting and the flickering light of torches. He lost count of how many alleys he had been in. He skidded to a halt as he quickly chose which one to go in this time. He decided the one to his left. It looked darker than the rest. He darted in and kept running. After a little while, though, he ran into something. He felt around and discovered it was a dead end. Jack cursed under his breath. The soldiers were less than a minute away, and he chooses a dead end to run into. At that moment the soldiers did reach him and quickly surrounded him with him on the wrong side of multiple bayonets. Then, someone began to order them to let him through, and the voice belonged to Norrington, who quickly reached the front and recognized Jack immediately.

"Well, men, it seems we have caught a Sparrow. I might have known it would be you."

The corners of Jack's mouth twitched upward a little as he said, "Of course it would be me. Who else would you 'ave so much trouble catching, aye?"

Norrington's face darkened at the comment and he motioned for a couple of men to clap Jack in irons. "Well, now we have yet another charge to add to the long list, though..."

"And what, pray tell, would that be? Tying a bird's beak together and thus harming the creature?"

Norrington looked at Jack strangely after that last comment, muttering something unintelligible under his breath. Then he answered Jack's question. "No...the kidnapping of William Turner."

XxX

Jack lay in a cell. This was beginning to become a routine thing for him...go to Port Royal, get captured by Norrington, lie in a cell planning how to escape...same old, same old. However, this time, he was beginning to have serious doubts if he would escape. Oh, he was sure he could, he just wasn't sure if the solution to the problem would come into his head before he would be hanged. This time, Norrington had taken extra precautions. He was still chained, the guards had been doubled around the cell, and they had orders to, if he managed to escape, recapture him by any means necessary. If it meant chasing him up a wall (literally) and waiting for him to come down out of hunger, so be it. At least he had safely gotten Will back. Will...yes. Jack had only been captured about an hour before, so Will wouldn't yet have woken up from the influence of the drug. Wonderful. He had drugged the only person who could help him.

Suddenly someone entered the cell. "I regret to inform you that your hanging has had to be postponed."

It was Norrington. And Jack certainly didn't regret that his hanging was postponed.

"I must be away to take care of some matters. I do not wish my subordinates to underestimate your abilities, so you will be sent to a neighboring military fort."

Wonderful. Just wonderful.

"It is run by a military officer by the name of Audley. He is quickly moving up in the ranks of the Navy, and no pirate has ever escaped from his fortress."

That was one way of putting it. This didn't bode well for any escape attempts that he might make there. Hopefully, Norrington was exaggerating.

"You will be taken aboard a ship immediately and sent there as soon as dawn breaks." Jack was then promptly ordered to get up. Norrington accompanied him and his guards to a ship. Jack was led to a cell and thrown in none too gently. However, they had removed his chains, so that was one good thing, at least. Jack wondered how he got himself into these things. He was beginning to have doubts as to whether all the pirates in the world had not gotten together and conspired to give him all of their bad luck combined. It was amazing how much could go wrong when he was involved. Simply amazing.

XxX

Will awoke to find himself in his blacksmith shop. For a few seconds, he began to wonder how he had gotten there, But then he remembered- Jack. He was going to something very painful to that pirate when he found him. Very painful. Perhaps lighting his hair on fire. No. That would be quite amusing, but not painful enough. Perhaps he could tie him to the back of an angry bull. Now that would be a sight to see. But no. He needed something very, very painful to do to Jack. Something amusing, yet absolutely, positively, excruciatingly painful. He'd come up with something by the time he would find Jack.

As he got up, Will happened to find his sword lying next to him. At least Jack had remembered to take that back with him, too. He picked it up muttering about cruel and highly painful torture to do to Jack. He would find that pirate if it was the last thing he'd do.

As soon as Will stepped out the door, he knew something was wrong. There was a buzz in the air that wasn't usually there. Of course, there'd be rumors about his return, but not like this. Pretty soon, Will had found out just what had happened. A pirate had been captured. When he inquired as to who the pirate was, his blood went cold. It was Jack. He was under constant guard and had been transported to a neighboring fortress to remain there during the time that Norrington would be away. Will thanked his informer and hurried away. That pirate just couldn't stay out of trouble. And if he had only been paying more attention when Jack drugged him, this wouldn't have happened, Will chided himself. From what he heard, Jack was heavily guarded, and it would be nearly impossible to get to him to conjure up another escape. He'd have to see what ships had left that morning, and for where. He sighed. When Jack was around, one never knew what could happen.

XxX

A few hours later, Will had checked the books and found out that the Silver Eagle had left that morning at dawn, making a brief stop at a military fort called St. William before it carried on its normal route. It was ironic...Jack went from the grasp of one William to another William. After a bit more research, he found that it was about a week's journey from Port Royal, give or take a few days. How in the world, though, was he going to reach there and get Jack back? The question had been posed...all that remained was the answer.

XxX

Jack was led from his cell aboard the ship onshore. He had been in that same cell for a week, so it didn't seem too bad to actually get out. As he was taken to the entrance of the fort, he gazed at it. No wonder no pirates had ever escaped from it. There were incredibly high walls, many, many guards (or so it appeared), and the doors had very heavy locks on them that could probably only be undone by whoever had made them in the first place. Apparently, they were well-equipped to handle prisoners. This didn't bode well for escape attempts at all.

As he was taken through various passages, Jack's thoughts ran along the lines of what weaknesses the place could possibly have. It appeared that most of the place was built against a cliff so that the cliff formed the back wall of the fort. As they reached a door, one of the guards rapped on it with his fist, and a muffled voice called from inside to enter. When they did enter, Jack saw that he was in a rather nice office. An officer turned around and greeted them. Jack could only assume that this was the man in charge. Soon, the man summoned a couple of his own men and dismissed the ones from the ship. As the door slammed shut, the man turned to Jack and began to speak to him.

"I am Commodore Audley. I am in charge of this fort." As he spoke, he began to walk toward Jack. He stopped a few feet in front of him and continued. "You should not even begin to think of escaping, because it won't work. Not only that, but if you should manage to get out, you will be severely punished. Severely..." he emphasized. "They tell me you are the famed Captain Jack Sparrow." At that comment, Jack grinned with pride, but allowed Audley, as he was called, to continue. That gives me all the more reason to...be extra careful with you." At this point, he got a light in his eyes that Jack really didn't like the look of. Audley turned to the guards. "Put him in cell #8. Then, after Norrington's ship is gone from view...you know what to do." He nodded to them, and they moved toward Jack. As he was guided to his cell, Jack decided he really didn't like the sound of that...'after Norrington's ship is gone from view...you know what to do.' That really didn't sound good, especially considering the kind of luck he'd been having. He wondered what it was that they were going to do. Well, all he could do was wait...

XxX

A couple of hours later, Jack watched out of the tiny cell window as the Silver Eagle sailed out of sight. Apparently it had been a short stop on the regular route it took. Jack wondered what exactly it was that couldn't be done while the ship was still in view. He had a feeling it wouldn't be very pleasant for him. This feeling only heightened when the same guards from before came in and rather roughly jerked him away from the window. They practically dragged him along the hallways until they came in front of one that appeared to be a dead end. When they pressed on a certain place, however, the dead end showed itself to be a cleverly disguised door. Jack's eyes widened. This was decidedly not good. Taking a prisoner through a secret passageway never was a good thing, especially when the captors were the ones leading the prisoner through. One of the guards grabbed a torch hanging on the wall while at the same time grabbing the iron rung that served as a handle for the inside of the door. He carefully shut the door, then turned his attention back to Jack and the other guard. They walked a ways down past more doors, then stopped in front of a rather thick-looking one with a rather strong-looking lock on it. They produced a key and unlocked it, pulling Jack in behind them and shutting the door. As he became accustomed to the light in the room, he decided this definitely didn't have a good look about it. There were two chains hanging down from the ceiling, presumably for a person's arms. However, they were at the height so that the person would be standing. Jack wondered about that. He didn't have much time to wonder, though, as his shirt was roughly removed from his back and he was placed in said chains. As the guards went out and he was just hanging there, he decided he definitely didn't like this entire place. Then he happened to look to his right. There was a small table there. This didn't look good. It looked like it could pass for a torture chamber, though he was fervently hoping it wasn't...

At that moment Audley came in carrying a bag of sorts. He locked the door behind him, which heightened Jack's feelings that this was a torture chamber.

"Hello, Sparrow." he said in a tone of disturbing cheerfulness. He turned his back to Jack and began to lay out the contents of the bag on the table. Jack was not pleased with this turn of events, especially when Audley turned around and invited him to take a look at his "collection." Jack's eyes widened when he took it in. There were several nasty-looking needles, knives, spikes, whips and an assortment of other items that Jack really didn't want to know what they were used for. There were even some hooks, which Jack judged to be fairly new. Well, this definitely was a torture chamber. And he was apparently the victim.

Audley smiled as he saw Jack's eyes widen. Oh yes...this was going to be fun, alright. He decided to toy with his victim a bit. "See anything you like?"

Jack just remained silent.

He began to explain it all to Jack. "By now, you've probably realized you are going to be in a lot of pain in the next few days. Perhaps longer, depending on how long Norrington's trip will take." He smiled again as he saw it register in Jack's mind.

"May I ask one question?"

Audley bowed. "But of course...what kind of host would I be if I didn't allow my 'guest' to ask a question?"

Wonderful, Jack thought. Simply wonderful. A polite torturer. Lovely. He didn't speak these thoughts aloud, though. Instead he asked his question. "Why?"

"Why?" Audley said in a mocking voice. "Why, my dear pirate? It's quite simple...I want to cause you pain. Oh, not you personally," he clarified as he saw Jack trying to remember just what he had done to make this man want to hurt him. "All pirates. I hate them all..."

His eyes got a faraway look in them. "I was eight years old. My family was on a ship bound for the Caribbean from England. We were a good, respectable family. Then, our ship was attacked by pirates." The look in his eyes hardened. "They attacked, and they killed everyone. Everyone except me, that is. They killed the captain, the crew, and my entire family. All except me. Me they left alive as a warning to other ships in the area. They dropped me off in a small rowboat in the middle of the ocean." There was bitterness in his voice. "Luckily, a Navy ship happened to spot me a few days later and picked me up. They never caught the pirates who had done this, but I vowed revenge on them. They had hurt me, so I would hurt them. And that is why, my dear pirate, I take great pleasure in causing every pirate as much pain as possible," he finished. A smile slowly spread across his face as he ran his hand delicately over his "collection". "Oh yes, many a pirate has suffered under these. It is quite amusing to watch them break and beg for mercy. Especially the captains...they suffer the most, because it was the captain himself who killed my family. Yes...the captains are definitely the most fun to torture." Jack looked at him in horror. The man was completely mad. And this wasn't a mad-like-Corlona-mad, this was a completely-insane-and-smarter-than-him-mad. This was decidedly not good. A feeling of dread began to hover over him. He was going to be tortured and he was a captain, which meant he would be tortured more. Wonderful. Simply wonderful. He wondered how in the world these things happened to him. He decided to blame the bird. Everything was that bird's fault. Somehow it had managed to alert Port Royal to him by bringing the guards on the dock to find their friend behind the barrel. Yes. It was definitely that bird's fault. He didn't have time to ponder it more, though as his head was rather unkindly slammed to the side by a fist. "Pay attention, pirate. You can learn many things when you pay attention," he said with a sickeningly sweet smile. He picked up one of the hooks and lightly ran his finger along it. "This is one of my new toys. You'll be the first I get to use it on. How lucky for you..." He stepped closer to Jack and smiled an even more disturbing smile as he lightly traced Jack's jaw with the point. "Well, Sparrow," he whispered. "Let's play."

Well there you go. Sorry if I'm not putting up anything intrusting at the end. Like, "What will happen next?" Or "Things are getting good." That kind of stuff. I don't read this, I started but then things got in the way and I stopped. So sorry for my dumb ending notes and late update. You guys probably think I'm lazy. Well, Review! Later!