Disclaimer: Don't own Jack, really wish I did.
Authors Note: This chapter is very short, and I'm sorry about that. I wanted to leave off at a suspenseful part. :) And I'll be updating again pretty soon!
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!
A very special thanks goes to my good friend, Gabbie. She helped a lot with this chapter. Her screen name is warriorwolfess, check out some of her stories!
Well that's pretty much all I have to say right now. I can't wait for your reviews!! Enjoy.
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Home is behind
The world ahead.
And there are many paths to tread.
Through shadow,
To the edge of night
Until the stars are all alight
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"Would you please just sit down!" Jack's eyes followed Elizabeth as she paced back and forth in the small brig. "Or at least stop moving. It is madly annoying and won't help us one bit."
Elizabeth turned sharply to glare at Jack, sitting with his back against the wall, his long legs stretched out infront of him. "Oh and what you are doing is really going to get us out of here." She snapped, but surprisingly she listened and sunk to the ground next to him, wrapping her arms around her knees, glaring sulkily out the barred cell.
Jack slid closer. "My tremendous intuitive sense of--" he began, "Don't." Elizabeth interrupted him sharply; he slumped back against the wall. "You're no fun 'Lizabeth." He said, not looking at her. "Jack!" Elizabeth said outraged. "We are trapped on Beckett's ship and all you can think of this that!" he merely shrugged. "Seriously, we have to come up with a plan." She tried to calm herself down, but it was proving difficult at the moment. Jack fell silent and Elizabeth thought he was ignoring her, but finally he answered.
"Beckett has a key." Clearly Elizabeth didn't understand where he was going, so Jack continued. "So…he must have a chest that said key goes to, because what would said key be without a chest to unlock?" Her eyes widened slightly as she began to understand. "And what would be the point of having a special key to unlock a secret chest without something very valuable in said chest to be unlocked with said key?" He smirked.
"Davy Jones heart." Elizabeth whispered. "Aye." Jack grinned. "He must have it somewhere on the ship. That just leaves us with the problem of getting out of here…" he gestured, "And getting the chest. But we will also need the key. There is no point in having a chest that you cannot unlock." He said matter-of-factly.
"I can help with the first, but will make no promises with the others." A familiar voice said.
Elizabeth slowly got to her feet, walking over to the cell bars. "James?" she whispered, staring at him in disbelief. "Hello Elizabeth." He smiled, but it didn't touch his eyes. There was a soft click as he turned the keys in the lock and then pulled the door open.
As soon as the door was open Elizabeth stepped out, toward James, who stepped forward swiftly to hug her. "Thank God you are alive." He said in to her hair. "I thought you had been killed." She remained unresponsive to his touch and he soon stepped back.
There was a loud smack as Elizabeth's hand came in contact with the side of Norrington's face and his neck jerked to the side. "How could you?" she asked, her voice dangerous. "You gave the heart to Beckett and look what's happened!" she said, her voice growing louder; James flinched slightly at her words.
"We all make our choices, some for the better good." He said, his voice tense.
"What is the better good to you now, James? The law…or the right thing?" Elizabeth asked, glaring at him. Jack approached from behind, a look of disgust on his face as he appraised Norrington.
"Do you know what havoc would spread through the world if we didn't have laws and all ran amok like drunk pirates?" James inquired, shooting Jack a cold look. "What fun would that be, if we all went around acting like that pompous stick, Beckett?" Jack threw in with a disgruntled look at the idea of having to obey laws.
"Clearly you wouldn't know, Sparrow." James said. Jack's eyes glistened with dark amusement. "That's where you are wrong my dear Admiral." He said, his voice dripping with bitterness.
Elizabeth quickly stepped in before they could continue bickering. "James, why are you here?" She asked, her voice hard. "I was sent on Lord Beckett's orders to retrieve you two, and bring you to him." He said, with a hint of foreboding, which caused Elizabeth to grow anxious. "Well, you might as well go along with your duties. Don't want to get yourself in trouble, conversing with the likes of us." She snapped, clearly still infuriated at what he did. Jack shot her a curious look at her words, but both him and Norrington fell silent.
With a curt nod, James led them from the gloomy lower deck, up to Beckett's office. He knocked once before entering. Beckett was over by the window, his back to them, hands clasped behind him. He turned as they entered, his top lip curling back in to a smile, which looked more like a sneer. "Jack and Elizabeth, sir. As you requested." James said, inclining his head for a moment, before dropping back to stand guard at the door.
"Well, so lovely to see you two again, and so soon." Cutler smiled and walked around the desk so he was directly infront of them. "I have a proposition for you, Jack. Unfortunately either way you choose it will have a grim ending for you." Elizabeth stiffened by Jack's side. "But if you cooperate, maybe, just maybe, Miss Swann will be spared and I will over look her disturbing crimes."
Jack had a peculiar expression on his face, his eyes were unfathomable. "Why do you even bother? You have us both imprisoned, you can just take the compass." He said tonelessly.
"And where would the fun be in that?" Beckett smiled maliciously.
"As I all ready said, there may be a way to save Miss Swann." Beckett continued. "All you have to do is give me the compass, and help me collect the nine pieces of eight. Simple enough I should think."
Jack glanced at Elizabeth for a second. "I see no profit in it for myself. Either way I go I'm going to end up dead. Why should I help you when I all ready know you are going to kill me?"
Elizabeth glared at Jack. She was about to tell him not to do as Beckett had asked. She knew how horrible it would be if he controlled both Davy and Calypso; but the fact that he just decided he wouldn't do it, forfeiting both of their lives, really aggravated her. Beckett seemed to be facing the same predicament. He was sure Jack would have agreed to save Elizabeth; this was not was he was expecting, and it certainly was an inconvenience.
"Well then, you leave me no choice but to kill you both, and take the compass." Beckett said quietly, pulling a small pistol out of his coat and aiming it directly at Jack; Norrington stirred at the door.
A loud bang shattered the silence as the gun went off.
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There we are, hope you enjoyed it.
Please review! It really helps me keep writing.