Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the plot. The music lyrics that I sometimes include aren't mine either.
Authors Note: The lyrics are a bit odd… but parts of them fit. You'll see later on.
I would like to thank my beta, muse, and friend: snowyjay-chan
Thank you sooo much! Without her this story probably would not exist.
And I would also like to thank two other friends who have been reading the chapters as I write them and have given me a great deal of help. You know who you are!
Well that's pretty much all I have to say right now. I can't wait for your reviews!! Enjoy.
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There's a tempest in yon horned moon
and lightning in yon cloud
and hard the music, mariners
the wind is piping loud
the wind is piping loud, my boys!
the lightning flashes free
while the hollow oak our palace is
our heritage the sea.
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The warm sunrays trickled into the room and eventually woke Elizabeth. Thoughts of last night slowly flooded her mind. 'Oh no…Will,' she moaned and rolled over, pulling the blanket tightly around her. That was when she realized that it was not a blanket that covered her, but Jack's coat.
Elizabeth's eyes flew opened and she glanced around the room, wide-eyed. 'Oh my God….' she thought, realizing that she was in Jack's room. 'Did something happen…' she couldn't remember too much from last night, only finding out about Will and then talking with Jack; she had been too numb with grief to pay much attention though.
Thankfully he was nowhere in sight. Slowly she rose from the bed and put Jack's coat on over her shoulders, heading up on deck.
Elizabeth spotted Jack over by the railing, hands clasped behind his back, gazing out at the horizon. She walked over, leaning on the rail. Jack seemed to be deep in thought, a solemn mood about him. Finally he turned his head to look at her, acknowledging her presence, "Love the coat darlin'. Really flatters you." He grinned.
Elizabeth rolled her eyes, smiling faintly; but her smile quickly disappeared as she gazed out at the ocean. Jack watched her closely, frowning. "It'll be alright, 'Lizabeth. We will find him." He said firmly, his dark mood coming back somewhat.
She sighed, "Jack, you've done so much for me. How can I ask you to do anything else?" she said softly. Jack smiled faintly, his eyes full of sadness, and he suddenly looked much older to Elizabeth. "Don't worry about it, luv." He said.
Elizabeth didn't say anything else, just nodded. She slid to the side, inbetween Jack and the rail. He wrapped his arms around her and she leaned back against him. They were silent, just enjoying each other's company for the moment.
"Do you think…he is alright?" Elizabeth whispered.
Jack didn't think Davy killed Will. He knew how much Jones hated him for stealing the key to his chest, which eventually led to it falling into the hands of the East Indian Trading Company. Jones would want his revenge against the poor whelp after that. "No, I don't think Jones would have killed him." Jack said, 'At least not yet…'
Elizabeth nodded, biting her lip. She hesitated, "About last night…" she said slowly and felt her cheeks grow warm. "Did…" she paused, trying to think of a way to voice her question.
Jack seemed to know what she was taking about and laughed. "No, nothing happened. I restrained my self, even though the situation was so very tempting." He chuckled, teasing her.
Elizabeth slapped him lightly on the arm, trying not to laugh. "You know, luv, more than 'alf the times I've been slapped, I didn't deserve it."
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"Oh wow, it's so beautiful." Elizabeth breathed, emerging from the woods onto a cliff that overlooked a small section of beach.
"Aye," Jack said, coming out of the woods behind her. "This be the quietest place on the whole of Tortuga I reckon." He added. 'If only it wasn't so cloudy, then we might have been able to see the sunset…' Elizabeth thought, glancing at the horizon. It looked like it could rain any second, the wind was picking up also, blowing her hair in a whirlwind around her as she sat on the edge of the cliff; Jack stood next to her, gazing at the clouds with a serious expression.
"I think my arm has healed well enough for a sword fight, don't you?" Elizabeth asked grinning. "What? Oh…probably, as long as you don't over do it." He said with a smile. "Alright, good." She said, rising to her feet.
"Let's go down t' the beach." Jack said, glanced down over the edge.
Elizabeth looked at the beach below, "It's pretty far…" She said quietly. "Are ye scared?" he asked, smirking. "No! Not at all, lets go." She said, although she didn't sound that determined. She knelt down and slowly lowered herself, holding onto the top of the ledge. Finding a foothold she continued to climb down. Finally she felt the soft sand beneath her feet and sighed in relief, stepping back from the cliff and waiting for Jack to get down.
Jack was several feet away from the bottom when he stepped on a loose rock, which broke off and slid down to the beach. "Whoa!" his lost he balance and fell, landing with a loud thump on the ground. "Are you all right?" Elizabeth asked, standing over him and laughing. "Oh, just lovely." He groaned, rolling over on his side. She offered Jack her hand to help him up, which he took and pulled her down on the sand next to him. "Oww, what was that for?" she asked laughing, quickly getting back to her feet.
Jack stood also, pulling out his sword. "Are ye ready?" he grinned. Elizabeth nodded and pulled out her own cutlass. He attacked swiftly, swinging his sword, she ducked and slashed upward, but he was able to parry easily.
Elizabeth spun around and attacked from a different angle, once again Jack was able to parry. "You've been practicing inbetween lessons!" he said, she just grinned.
Elizabeth parried a strong blow from Jack that nearly knocked her sword out of her hand. She quickly recovered and jabbed at him. "Oi!" He yelled, jumping out of the way.
Rain began to fall as the skis grew darker and darker, but they continued to sword fight.
"Ha! You can't beat me luv." Jack called over the rain as he did an unsteady bow after knocking Elizabeth over. She swiped her leg behind his and he fell over into a crumpled heap. "Pirate!" he said, half laughing half a curse. "Nothing more than you would do!" she laughed, grabbing her sword.
A cold wave of water splashed around them as Elizabeth struggled to her feet; the tide was coming in and the beach began to shrink. Jack quickly jumped up, getting soaked by the wave.
"Want to call it quits, luv?" he called over a clap of thunder, his soaking wet hair blowing in to his face. "So you can go and tell everyone that I gave up?" she asked. "Something like that, yeah." He grinned. "Not a chance then." Elizabeth smiled and lunged at Jack, who dodged her blow.
The clanging of the swords could barely be heard over the howling wind as the two continued their battle. Elizabeth advanced toward Jack, attacking rapidly, coaxing him to stop blocking and actually fight back. She thrust her sword forward and he blocked with a lazy flick of his sword. He then moved so swiftly that she barely saw his sword coming at her; she ducked at the last moment.
Elizabeth quickly backed away, glancing at Jack. 'How did he get that fast?' He grinned at her, as if he knew what she was thinking; his dark eyes flashed with mischief. Another swipe, she ducked and retreated further away.
His eyes were mocking her now, she gritted her teeth and moved to attack, but he parried easily.
Elizabeth was beginning to tire, but Jack showed no signs of slowing down.
The weather was steadily getting worse and did not show any signs of improvement for a while. A bolt of lightening forked overhead illuminating the beach in an eerie glow for a few seconds. By the light they were able to see just how much the water had risen; they only had about two or three feet of beach left.
Elizabeth splashed through the water, dodging a blow before jabbing at Jack. A sudden rush of water surrounded them, knocking them over and dragging them underneath.
Elizabeth was tossed about violently as the wave dragged her out to sea as it retreated. She came up sputtered and coughing just as another waved crashed over her head and she was forced under again.
Jack surfaced a few feet away from her, spitting out a mouthful of water. "Lizzie?" He called, looking around for her. "I'm over here…" he could barely hear her voice over the roaring of the waves.
Jack reached her just as she slipped under the surface once more; he dove down and grabbed her arm, pulling her back up. "Hurry up, we need t' get back t' the beach!" he yelled, beginning to swim. Elizabeth quickly followed behind him, but it took much longer to get back to shore with the waves crashing in to them.
Finally they made it back to land, or what was left of it at high tide. Jack glanced up the cliff, hesitating for only a moment. "We need t' climb back up." He shouted. "Are you mad?" Elizabeth yelled over wind. "Maybe," a small grin appeared on his face for a minute before he became serious again. "This is the only way." He said looking at her; she fell silent when she saw how serious he looked.
Jack began to climb, which was very difficult since the rocks were slippery and the rain and wind were pelting at his back. Elizabeth quickly followed behind him. "There is a small cave, 'bout 'alf way up!" he called down to her.
In a few minutes Jack disappeared from sight, in to the mouth of the cave. Elizabeth was still climbing, rather slow, as her arm throbbed painfully. She probably shouldn't have been sword fighting for so long.
Elizabeth made it to the opening and felt Jack's hands wrap around her wrists, pulling her in to the shelter of the cave. She laid on her back for a moment, eyes closed, coughing. "You all right luv?" he asked, sitting back against the wall of the cave. "Yeah, I'm fine…" she muttered, crawling over to him. She leaned against him, closing her eyes once more. Jack felt her trembling against him and wrapped his arms around her.
Elizabeth was silent and soon fell in to an uneasy slumber, from pure exhaustion, still in his arms. Jack did not sleep; his dark eyes stared out the mouth of the cave, watching the rain fall.
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Elizabeth woke much later in the night, leaning back against the cave wall. She yawned and looked around for Jack, he was standing at the entrance to the cave. Slowly she rose, stretching, and walked over to him. "What's going on?" she asked.
"The rain is a lot lighter. We should probably go incase it gets worse again." He replied, but something seemed to be on his mind as he glanced out in to the rain, as if looking for someone.
Elizabeth nodded, "All right, lets go." She said, carefully sliding out of the mouth of the cave and on to the side of the cliff. Slowly she began to climb up, only glancing down once to see Jack right below her.
A scream escaped Elizabeth's lips as someone's rough hands grabbed her and pulled her up over the cliff's edge. She felt a hand clamp over her mouth as another hauled her to her feet.
Jack looked up to see what all the noise was, his eyes narrowed at what he saw, but he had no choice but to continue going up since he had all ready been seen. "Ah, Cutler Beckett." He said, getting to his feet. He impatiently brushed off a hand that grabbed his shoulder, much to the soldier's bewilderment, and approached Beckett. "What a pleasure running in to you again, but seeing as this is not pleasurable times I think I might just be takin' the lass with me and getting on my way. Eh?" He asked, getting right in Beckett's face and gesturing to Elizabeth, who was struggling to get loose.
Beckett did not back up, nor did he show any emotion at all, which greatly frustrated Jack…but then again he did expect it from him. "All right, what do you want?" Jack asked, his eyes narrowed. "Unless you came just to catch up on old times…unlikely."
"Hardly. I came for the compass," he paused and let it sink in. "I know you have it, and I want it, for a certain business transaction shall we say?"
"Oddly, I find that very hard to believe." Jack muttered. "You all ready have the heart, why do you still want the compass?" he asked, with slight bitterness. "I know, why don't you just tell us your little plan, since we all know how much you love to gloat and all that." He said coolly.
Beckett stiffened slightly, "You ask too many questions for you own good Sparrow. But… since I am in a good mood, I will tell you." He smiled faintly. "I'm sure you've heard of a certain goddess, goes by the name of Calypso. Well if I can release her, and find a way to control her, I will be even more powerful than I am now." He laughed.
"I think all the power is going to your head." Jack said, more to himself than Beckett. "I see several things wrong with your ingenious plan." He said sarcastically. "First of all I don't think Calypso will be too keen on helping you. Secondly you will need all of the nine pieces of eight, which will be almost impossible to get. Thirdly you will need to have Calypso with you, and I highly doubt you'll be able to find her." He said, studding Beckett. "Fourthly…no, wait, that's it." Jack grinned.
Beckett rolled his eyes. "Do you think I am that stupid not to take all of that in to consideration all ready?" he scoffed. "This is why I need your compass." He said quickly, cutting Jack off who looked like he was ready to say yes.
"What makes you so sure that I'll give it to you?" Jack asked, glaring at Beckett. "You have no choice but to do as I say." Beckett drawled, grinning. A bolt of lightening forked across the sky, lighting his face up and making him look insane. "We will continue this on the ship." He nodded to the soldiers who immediately came forward and grabbed Jack. "I am quite capable of walking on my own thank you very much." He growled, struggling to get free. "But would you?" Beckett asked, raising an eyebrow before leading them towards the harbor.
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There we are, hope you enjoyed it.
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