A/N: Yay! I squeezed another update in! I'm gonna finish this story! Or is it already finished? Is this the last chapter : P--)--

Chapter 16

"Did we kill it?" My senses picked up Marty speaking. I picked my aching body up and carelessly brushed off chunks of Kraken on me.

"No. We just made it angry. We're not out of this yet. Captain! Orders!" Gibbs looked to Jack like he had never abandoned ship to let us all drown and save his own skin.

Jack's face was stern without emotion, "Abandon ship. Into the long boat." He spoke in a monotone voice that I had never heard before.

"Jack! The Pearl!" Gibbs was horrified.

"She's only a ship, mate." Jack replied downtrodden.

"He's right. We have to head for land." Elizabeth added as the whole crew looked at them like they were crazy. I knew how Jack felt. Your ship was your home. It felt like a vice when you lost it. I could picture every feature of the Jade Chalice when it had been claimed by the Kraken.

"'S a lot o' open wa'er." Pintel looked out at the clear, unbounded ocean surrounding us.

"We have to try. We can get away as it takes down the Pearl." Will tried to give the group hope.

"Abandon ship. Abandon ship or abandon hope." Gibbs somberly articulated.

I approached Elizabeth as the crew began to load the long boat with supplies. She seemed to be struggling with a very hard decision. I had made a decision also.

"Elizabeth," I said, getting her attention.

"Yes?"

I spoke quietly, "I'm going to stay behind."

"Why?" She looked confused with a hint of fear.

"I need to make sure it's dead. For Toby's sake. It needs to be dead." I replied, my hands gripping the unused harpoon.

"You loved him." She observed.

"I don't believe in that emotion," I turned my back on her,

"No, you've just spent your whole life avoiding it." She spoke knowingly.

"Look, I just need the bait… to draw it out. I need someone to stay behind with me." I continued.

"Jack should. He's the captain." Elizabeth mused, "I can get him to stay." She spoke with purpose.

"Alright, then step to."

I watched as Elizabeth walked up to Jack. We were the only ones left on the ship. Everyone else had boarded the long boat. I stood in the shadows, waiting, wondering if this would be my last day. I breathed in sharply, feeling the sharp pain in my side from my wound.

"Thank you, Jack." Elizabeth spoke softly. I wondered if that approach would work. Elizabeth would have to do something better than that to get Jack to stay onboard the Black Pearl.

"We're not free yet, love."

"You came back. I always knew you were a good man." Elizabeth seduced.

I laughed inwardly, I was the one who guilted him into doing it. Then Elizabeth did something so surprising and revolting that I wanted to look away, but was forced to stare at. She kissed Jack. The kiss was interrupted by the sound of shackles. Elizabeth had chained Jack to the main mast.

"It's after you, not the ship. It's not us. This is the only way, don't you see? I'm not sorry." Elizabeth tried to justify her actions to him. She leaned in to kiss him again.

Jack smiled, "Pirate."

Elizabeth left the captain chained to his ship and I saw the boat cast off, leaving the two of us alone. Jack began to frantically struggle against his ironclads.

"Bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger…!"

"Jack, there's no use." I came out of the shadows.

"Rummy! Help me out of the darn things! We might still make it." He exclaimed when he saw me.

"I'm sorry it had to be you, Jack." I apologized as I climbed the mast. I reached the top quickly and felt my palms sweat as I tightly gripped the harpoon. It was all down to this. I only hoped that Jack would bait the Kraken to emerge from the water giving me a clear shot at its head. Time seemed to elapse slower than pitch. I tried to steady myself, taking in deep breaths. I can't miss, I can't miss. Those words repeated over in my head. Toby didn't miss, I remembered. He had killed Cleveland, saving my life. Now I must return the favor.

Part of me, the logical side, kept on saying that it was stupid to take revenge on an animal. The thing had no feeling; it didn't know who Toby was or who I was. It was just instructed to kill, like a tool. But Davy Jones's rule over the sea would be seriously affected.

Laughing echoed in my head, the free, light-hearted laughing of children at play, because that's all we used to be. Children. The many days which Toby and I had spent just playing around and doing nothing. Our only care would be what we would do that day. Things had sure changed.

A particularly fond moment reflected in my mind. I was about eight when the two of us had decided to go to the beach and search for seashells. It was a warm summers evening, a clear, starry sky with fireflies winking in an out in the distance. There was a celebration in the town; I could here the music and shouts in the distance. The market stalls had all opened that day and decorated with ribbons and decorations.

I didn't quite understand what all the partying was about. Some soldiers had come home in bright red uniforms and marched down the streets. The governor had welcomed them home and declared a feast in their honor. And just like that, the otherwise drab town had come alive.

"I found a spiral one!" Toby exclaimed as he picked up a black seashell. He brushed the wet sand off and stared mesmerized at the iridescent inside.

"Here, if we find enough, maybe we can sell them to the people at the party." I suggested, "I saw a guy selling painted ones once."

"Okay, Remy go look down the beach over there. I'm sure we can get a whole bunch before my mom finds us." Toby suggested as he bent down to search the white foaming tide.

I ran to where he directed, feeling the cool water and sand underneath my bare feet. I scooped up a pile of sand and began sifting through it. I ventured farther out, hoping to find bigger shells. The water was about waist deep when I saw a pink and grey object through the clear water.

Curiously, I headed further out to examine it, and to my amazement, it appeared to be a giant shell. The image wiggled under the glass like surface, taunting me, luring me to pick it up.

"Toby!" I yelled, "Come 'ere!"

Not waiting for him, I ducked under the waves and felt around blindly for the giant shell. My hands moved across the sandy bottom and at last, reached the solid, heavy object. My thin arms strained to pick up the mass and gradually, I lifted it up.

Toby came out into the ocean to help me and we both carried it to shore, transfixed with its colossal beauty.

"Wow, good job Rem." Toby congratulated me on my find.

I dragged it over to my self and set it in my lap, scrutinizing the rough outside and the glassy pink inside. I spotted something black inside the shell and my hazel eyes peered closer.

"What is it?" Toby asked with inquisitiveness, he leaned in to see closer and pushed his dark hair out of his soft grey eyes.

A slimy black creature shot out of the shell and scurried into the ocean, it startled me so much that I flew backwards and landed heavily on my butt.

Toby began to roll with laughter, "You got scared! You're scared of a crayfish!"

"No I'm not! I just was startled." I tried to convince him, "I'm not scared of a crayfish."

Toby did a bad impression of my face. "That's it!" I stalked him, ready to pounce onto my laughing friend.

"Oh God!" Toby scrambled up and began to run from my outstretched hands as I tried to tackle him.

"Your dead!" I threatened and then lunged, grabbing his legs. We both tumbled to the ground, laughing.

That night, I cleaned the shell off and set it by my window before I went to bed. That window faced Toby's house across the street from mine. I could hear my sisters Julia and Hannah sleeping next to me.

The shell seemed to glow in the moonlight, a pale, foreign object in the little bedroom. It didn't belong, everything else was so fragile. My sister's dolls and their painted faces seemed to stare at the shell with dislike. But I looked at it fondly, I didn't care for dolls. I enjoyed the ocean where this shell came from. Gradually I drifted to sleep, guarding my treasure.

"That shell went down with my ship", I sighed, "Taken by the Kraken, another of my memories stolen from me." I whispered to myself.

"Come on…come on…" Jack's desperate voice drifted up to me.

Peering down from the crow's nest, I saw that my bait was trying to free him self. He had taken the oil from a lantern in an attempt to squeeze his hands free of the manacles.

"Oy! Jack stop!" I yelled, if he got away, the whole thing would be ruined!

Too late, Jack slipped free but not before the rumbling and bubbling underwater announcement of the Kraken. The hideous head rose menacingly out of the water, staring stupidly at Jack. Water drained from its slimy tentacles as I prepared to throw my harpoon.

The hunter roared, rocking the Pearl. I'm sure anyone within a five mile radius shivered from that sound. It was the most unearthly thing I had ever heard in my life and brought back the memory of Davy Jones at his stone organ. Jack was sprayed with slime as the Kraken's mouth opened, illuminating its rows of razor sharp teeth, and flinging Jack's three cornered hat at his feet.

"Not so bad." He replied, "Oh!" He delightedly cried as he spotted his slimy hat. He picked it up and placed it on his head.

Nobody said this would be easy. I got ready to launch my weapon as the glaring white eye swayed foreword. Revenge. Its eye had to be as large as a saucer; its head could fit a human in the mouth. Toby. That thing had dragged him down. I was too late to follow him, but I was ready to die; I was ready to kill, all for him.

At the same moment as Jack charged, I released the harpoon I had been holding on for so long. It spun through the air, picking up speed. As I watched, time seemed to halt for this one moment. Jack was enveloped by the monster just as the spear head pierced the round, glassy eye.

And then…nothing.

A/N: Nope, I don't really have anything to say other than ha ha.

Oh and thank you 16Aqua, DemonicSymphony, and WF for all the wonderful reviews. Screw the rest of you!

TeTc