DISCLAIMER: Will you stop making me say this? I'm going to have to start taking meds if I get much more depressed about this. POTCISALLDISNEY'S there. Happy now? And the lyrics are Beck's, even if you've never heard of him, which you probably haven't.

Something always

Missing always

Someone missing

Something

I can't believe these tears are mine I'll give 'em to you to keep away in a box Chapter 5

"She's what?"

"MISSING!" Jack yelled for what felt like the eighty-seventh time. "How many more bloody times do I have to say it?"

"I'm just making sure," Will said. "Are you –"

"I AM COMPLETELY BLOODY POSITIVE! OTHERWISE I WOULDN'T BLOODY BE HERE!"

"All right, all right. I'll get Tia Dalma."

Jack watched Will walk away into a different room of the hut. He sidled over to a counter and glanced at its contents. He picked up a particularly large and heavy ring and placed it on the middle finger of his left hand. It would draw attention away from the drop of ruby – Jack hoped.

"What brings you here wit'out Elizabeth?"

Jack jumped. "Tia Dalma!" he said warmly. "Ah…we seem to 'ave a bit of a problem."

"A problem? Of what form?" Tia Dalma asked suspiciously.

"In the form of an otherwise empty hut," Jack said evasively.

"Meaning, I am assuming, that Elizabeth is gone."

"Yep. Pretty much."

Tia Dalma exhaled.

"Would you know where she is?" Will pressed.

Tia Dalma looked at him. "O' course I don't. How would I?"

Will looked crestfallen. She smiled.

"What I can do…is find 'er." She sat down at her table and took up the crab claws. She studied their pattern carefully. "Davy Jones," the priestess finally muttered.

"Jones?" Jack echoed. "No, I've had enough of 'im. Sorry, mate, you're on your own." He started to walk out of the hut.

"Let me see youm 'and," Tia Dalma said.

"My hand? But it's completely fine," Jack said in mock confusion, holding out his right hand. Tia Dalma narrowed her eyes. Jack rolled his own in resignation and held out his left hand.

"As I thought. You 'ave been visited by Lady Hel."

"'Ow the bloody heck do I get it off?"

"You must kill the Lady Hel before she claims you."

"Brilliant. No problem. And 'ow would I do that?"

"By finding Davy Jones."

"Oh, of all the bloody people – er, squids – it 'ad to be him to save my life," Jack said exasperatedly.

Tia Dalma smiled. "I think you will find 'im quite willing to 'elp you. You see…Lady Hel was 'im sweetheart."

"Her? No wonder he's so bitter," Jack smirked.

"Wait a moment. Who is this Lady Hel?" Will asked.

"No one you want to meet," Jack said. He stuck out his tongue for emphasis. "Apparently she runs Hell. And she's very…shall we say…vengeful."

"So…if she was Jones's sweetheart, why would he help Jack kill her?"

"You be forgetting dat Jones has no love left in 'im save for the torture of others. And 'e no longer loves her for what she did to 'im. Dis be why Jones collects the souls. To keep dem away from her," Tia Dalma explained. "Dis be why 'e wanted Jack so badly. 'E would be a powerful ally against Lady Hel. But against him, worse, for Jack was all da wiser from 'is past dealings wit' Jones and I."

"Why 'asn't anyone asked my opinion on this? I'd very much like to stay alive rather than turn into a fish or be tortured until the end of time, thanks," Jack spat.

"I know," Tia Dalma said solemnly. "Dat is why we must rid da world of dem bot'. Before dem, it was t'ree instead of five: World's End, da Otherworld, or da real Hell. Now dere are t'ree Hells, World's End, and da Otherworld. It is time da world go back to what it shoulda been." She finished with her finger pointing dramatically at the crab claws. The formed a line on the table. "In da end, all o' you will meet where da five collide. But for now…I've been casting da bones. You must go ta dis island ta meet wit' Davy Jones." She pointed at a map. "Once you get dere, you must convince Jones to giver you da Pearl for ta get whatever 'e wants for Elizabeth. And I'm sure you will come up wit' a way for him to 'elp you get ta Hel. You are very resourceful."

Jack sighed. "'Ow exactly do we get to this island?"

Tia Dalma smiled again and provided the bearings, and then she took Jack aside. "I am sure dat if you forget da bearings, your compass can lead you dere," she said slyly. Then, so Will could hear her as well, she said, "You may borrow my ship. I am hoping to get it back, though it may be impossible in one piece, but try your best. Come, I will escort you."

Will and Jack followed Tia Dalma from the hut and down to the longboat. Jack sat heavily at the stern, his strength still not all there. Tia Dalma again took up the pole and headed them past her hut.

The waters began to turn darker and darker. A fine mist was starting to gather. It settled over Jack's shoulders like a blanket, putting his nerves on end. He nearly jumped out of his skin when a gigantic crocodile slid into the river.

And suddenly there it was, right before their eyes: a ship of beautiful golden-colored wood, its sails of a shining silvery material, and its figurehead…its figurehead looked almost exactly like the design Jack had inadvertently carved. The tree of waving lines.

"What exactly is that?" Jack asked.

"Da figurehead? It is da tree of life. Nobody knows exactly where it grows. Many 'ave claimed dat dey saw it, but it was probably false," Tia Dalma said dismissively.

"What's she called?" Jack queried.

"Da Silver Mermaid."

They lapsed into silence until the longboat's nose bumped the hull of the Mermaid.

"Up ye get," Tia Dalma said.

Will reached the deck first, the priestess behind him and the pirate last.

"Now, when ye get ta Tortuga, you'll need a crew for da Pearl and a crew and captain for da Mermaid. She" – Tia Dalma patted the Silver Mermaid's railing – "needs only five ta crew 'er. For da sail ta Tortuga da two o' ya should do fine. An' Jack…" Tia Dalma paused, looking sorrowful. "Good luck."

OI! Sorry, had to get your attention somehow. This goes back to the night before.

Elizabeth was roused by a crackling sound. Then a rough, slimy hand placed itself over her mouth.

"Jack?" she murmured, opening her eyes. The hand muffled her scream as she watched Davy Jones's crew extricate itself from the woodwork of the hut.

"Not another sound, or Turner dies," one of them hissed. Elizabeth nodded. The crew member scooped her up and carried her out of the hut. It finally set her down in a longboat.

She couldn't remember ever being so afraid in her life that she couldn't make a sound, but so it was as the crewmen began to row along the river. After a while, the longboat nosed the hull of the Flying Dutchman, and one of the crew commanded "Up!" Elizabeth quickly obeyed, and found herself staring straight into the eyes of none other than Davy Jones himself. They were blue, and seemed to possess an entire ocean.

"Come with me," he said.

Jones whirled around, tentacled beard flying, and stumped off. Elizabeth followed tentatively, quaking with terror. Jones eventually led her to the brig.

"In," he said shortly.

Elizabeth obliged, and he slammed the door.

"What do you want with me?" she asked.

"Bait." Jones laughed horribly and went back up to the deck.

Elizabeth sank down to the floor of the brig. "Why am I always the bait?" she said bitterly.

"Because William loves you," answered a hoarse voice.

Elizabeth jumped. "Who's there?"

A man, more human than the rest but still sporting an abundance of sea life, materialized from the shadows. "William Turner. Senior," the man added.

"So you're-?"

"Will's father? Yes." Bootstrap gave a crooked smile. "Though I may not look so much like him right now."

Elizabeth, finding it hard to tear her eyes away from the starfish clinging to Bootstrap's temple, privately agreed. "How did you get here?" she asked.

He looked away.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have…" she said hastily, but Bootstrap cut her off.

"No," he said. "It's fine. Bad memories." He smiled again, apologetically. "Don't feel bad. In short, I didn't like what Barbossa had done to Jack. So he tied me to a cannon and threw me overboard."

"That's horrible!" Elizabeth gasped.

Bootstrap shrugged. "I don't remember it so much anymore." Then he looked back at Elizabeth. "What won out Jack in…in the end?"

"Me," she whispered. "I chained him to the mast." She braced herself for an explosion, but none came. When she looked at Bootstrap questioningly, he merely shrugged again.

"I thought it would be something like that," he said sadly.

"He's not dead anymore," Elizabeth told him.

His brow furrowed. "How?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Elizabeth admitted. "Do your best not to tell Jones, though…he could be our element of surprise." She stopped herself when she realized she was already planning a highly unlikely escape.

Even so, Bootstrap promised not to let on. "We'll never get out of here," he added heavily, "but I won't say anything."

Compelled by a sudden need to comfort Will's father, Elizabeth stood up. "We will escape," she said strongly. "Will, if I know him, will help us. And maybe – just maybe – Jack will too."

Bootstrap began to move toward the stairs. "I'll visit you again," he said. "And by the way…I wouldn't count on Jack if I were you."

A/N: 'Ello, poppets. I won't be able to update that much this week…my teachers give me so much homework that it isn't even funny. Not that it was funny in the first place. Seriously. One night my backpack weighed 30 pounds. Anyway…hope you liked this chapter. First one to review gets a bottle of rum. Okay, maybe I don't have any rum. No one heard that, right? . .