18. Battle and Changes
Disclaimer: I do not own the direct quotes I found from AWE, but I do own the storyline I have created to go along with AWE. ENJOY! OH I'm sorry if the story line isn't perfect with the movie—I just want to get the basic idea across.
At dawn the following day, the fleet of pirate lords and our flagships make way into the ocean to meet Lord Beckett, his ship and Davy Jones and the Flying Dutchman.
Aboard the Pearl I gaze out at the ocean, waiting for the enemy to arrive. My gaze is hard and my eye narrow against the light of the rising sun.
"A good morning to you, Captain Ferrara," I hear a voice behind me. I turn around and see Jack standing before me. I lighten my gaze and a smile forms on my lips.
"Morning, Sparrow," I reply, my head tilted upward towards him.
"Ye ready to go?" he asks, tilting his head upward similarly to mine, his game face on. I turn my head out to sea and see Beckett's ship sailing towards us. I turn back to Jack and nod.
"Never been more ready," I reply. Elizabeth runs up to Jack and me and points silently out to sea as the cheering aboard the flagships ceases. More ships emerge from the foggy ocean—hundreds of tall ships—Beckett's own fleet. Our eyes meet and my heart drops—I immediately feel as though we have no chance at all to win this. She looks as though she is about to cry when I step up.
"We're going anyway," I say firmly, leaving both she and Jack as I walk towards Barbossa who is already inside the longboat.
We row out to a narrow sandbar strip that is half way between our ships and Beckett's. At the other end of the sand strip, Will, Lord Beckett and Davy Jones stand. The four of us walk slowly and without fear towards the three of them. Barbossa, Elizabeth, I and Jack walk almost in synch with one another as we cross the island and firmly stop in a straight line once we reach Jones, Beckett and Will.
"Where is Sao Feng?" Beckett asks immediately, noticing two women in his place.
"He was killed and requested we go as captains in his stead," I say flatly. .
"I see. Will, here, was the tool to your betrayal, although the if you'll look to your left, you'll find the grand architect behind the tool," Beckett says. Barbossa turns his head to Elizabeth, Elizabeth turns her head toward me, and I turn my head to Jack, who looks simply to his left, then back at the three of us staring at him.
"Jack!" I whisper under my breath.
"I needed the Pearl for my own journey—Jack had nothing to do with it!" Will exclaims.
"Right, but then how did you come by this?" Beckett asks, holding up Jack's compass. "Come on Jack—you held up your part of the bargain—you brought the pirates. Step up!"
Jack merely stands there not saying a word. Elizabeth then glances over at me and then back at Beckett.
"I propose we make a trade. Will for Jack," she says suddenly. My heart drops and i quickly turn my head and stare her down. She gives me strong eyes in return so to assure me this is what needs to happen. I turn back and face Beckett again and nod.
"Done," he says.
"Undone!" Jack chimes in, staring at me.
"Done!" I exclaim, staring him in the eyes.
"You can't..." Barbossa begins to speak, but Elizabeth and I whip around towards him.
"Pirate King," I say finally with a smirk. Jack and Will finally exchange places. A few more words are spoken, Barbossa pulls his sword on Jack and cut's off the bangle hanging from the front of his head, and we head back to the Pearl with Will and without Jack.
One board the Pearl, Barbossa decides to set free Calypso from Tia Dalma, thinking she will be our saving grace. Once she is free, he is enormously let down and everyone is in utter disappointment at the light of the situation--apprehensive of the battle to come with no luck on our side.
"If this is f' yer father's revenge, it's not something I'd want t' die for today!" Barbossa says to Elizabeth.
I look at Elizabeth and take her hand and squeeze it.
"Then what shall we die for?" She asks, turning to Barbossa and the rest of the crew.
"It's true—if she can't die for her father, then what can we die for?" I ask loudly rhetorically to the crew.
"Listen—you listen to me! Listen!" I exclaim, jumping onto the railing of the ship and holding onto the rope. "The other ships will be looking to us—for the Pearl to lead—and what will they see? Frightened men aboard a derelict ship? NO! They will see free men and freedom!" I exclaim, hoisting Elizabeth up to join me.
"Captain Ferrara is right! The enemy will see the flash of our cannons and they will hear the ringing of our swords and they will know what we can do!" She screams.
"With the sweat of our brow, and the strength of our backs," she continues.
"...and the courage in our hearts—gentlemen, hoist the colors," I command. The crew goes wild and within minutes, all the pirate flags from each different ship and crew are flying high in the windy sea air.
In spite of it all, clouds form overhead which begin to rain upon us all and gusty winds mixed with the rain turn the sea itself into a battle ground, forming a magnificent whirlpool between the Pearl and approaching Dutchman.
"Barbossa, we need you at the helm!" I cry out as the waters grow more dangerous.
"Aye, that be true!" he exclaims and runs to the wheel, turning us inward into the spiraling ocean and toward the Dutchman.
The two ships eventually lock in place at the top of the masts, enabling all parties the ability to board. Soon, crew from the Dutchman are swinging aboard the Pearl. I draw my cutlass and begin wielding it as quickly as I can at the first walking shark I see. I fight hard and against many sea people. As I fight, I glance every now and then aboard the Dutchman to see if I can spot Jack, but I figure he is probably locked in the brig.
I then look up and see him fighting Davy Jones himself with the chest in his other hand, high upon the mast of the Dutchman. My heart soars as I see him cut off the key from Jones's tentacle. I watch it fall to the deck of the ship. I then notice Will and Elizabeth aboard the Pearl, fighting off Dutchman crew as Barbossa appears to be marrying them. I smile at the two of them as I fight and swing my sword relentlessly. Once the deck is cleared off a bit, I decide to board the Dutchman in search of the key. I grab a rope and swing across the wild ocean and almost get hit by a flying Captain Sparrow, and land aboard the Dutchman.
"Almost hit you, luv!" Jack calls down to me from the air as I land on board.
"Good thing you didn't!" I call back, whipping out my sword and fighting more. Suddenly, Will joins me on the Dutchman in search for his father, who ends up fighting him.
Shortly after, Elizabeth also swings over and joins me in my fight.
"Will's fighting his father!" I exclaim to her as we fight together against the crew.
"I see that!" she exclaims, not sure what is going on. We get split up when Davy Jones intercepts us, knocking her to the ground. Will, too is on the ground and they exchange loving glances and Jones catches this. I turn away as I notice the key inching its way across the deck. I see Jack running towards me.
"Jack!" I exclaim as i run towards the key. I dive onto the ground and grab the key. Jack puts the chest down and I open the chest for him.
"Are you going to stab the heart?" I ask Jack, knowing his fate if he does.
"Yes, I plan on it," he says as he takes the heart out of the chest and holds it in his hand. We jump to our feet and run over the Will and Elizabeth just as Jones stabs Will in the heart.
"Tell me William Turner, do you feel dead?" Jones asks Will as he twists the sword Will made into his heart. Jack's eyes are wide, as are mine. Jack is holding his broken sword above the beating heart. He looks at Will and Elizabeth and then at me.
"Do you?!" Jack retorts Jones's question. Jones turns to Jack.
"Stab it already!" I shriek to Jack, "if you don't, I will!" I scream. Jack then lunges to the ground and puts the sword in Will's hand, making him stab the heart.
"Ca...lyp...so" he utters in his final breath as he falls over board and into the swirling waters.
"Will, look at me—don't leave me Will," Elizabeth says frantically, her hands on his face. Jack and I watch in utter silence.
"N..n..no!" Elizabeth screams as Will's eyes close for the last time. Tears stream down my face for her loss and Jack's eyes are wide with emotion. He sees the crew emerge chanting, ready to cut out Will's heart. He suddenly grabs Elizabeth and myself.
"Come!" He declares as he ties up ropes and then shoots his pistol, lifting us into the air and off the Dutchman. The Pearl had long since let go from the Dutchman. We left the Dutchman to be swallowed by the ocean and we finally land in the water beside the Pearl.
When we arrive back on the Pearl, Elizabeth is silent, while Jack watches for the Dutchman to reemerge. When it does, Will is captain, and commands his no longer damned crew to ready the cannons and "full canvas".
"Full canvas!" Jack exclaims. "Ready the cannons1"
It all goes by so quickly—the defeat of Beckett and the retreat of his fleet. Things begin to go blurry—my eyes cannot see as well as they used to. I blink a lot, cheering with the rest of the crew as we celebrate our victory. Barbossa then readies the long boat for Elizabeth to go ashore to be with Will for their one day. As she is saying her good-byes to us, I begin coughing heavily, my vision increasingly worsening.
"Oh Lindsey, are you alright?" She asks as she hugs me good-bye.
"Yes, I'll be fine...just swallowed too much sea water," I say with a teary smile.
"Jack, it would have never have worked out between us," she says with a grin.
"Keep tellin' yerself that, dahling," he says with a smirk. As she steps into the long boat and his lowered to the water, my coughing becomes worse.
I move away from the crowd and lean over the railing on the other side of the ship, gasping for air. The coughing turns into giant gasps for air. Jack sees me coughing and gasping for air and he runs over to me. It's too late.
"Jack!" I gasp as I fall to the deck, my body motionless. By the time he gets to me, I'm nowhere to be found.