Chapter Two: Apprehension

Elizabeth was disappointed to find a small locked box. It looked as though it required a key to open, a key she did not have. She set the thing down and went over her options. Keep the thing hidden, and work on it with different pieces of metal to see if it could be picked. Another option was to tell Jack and see if he had any ideas, but this didn't appeal to her. Or, she could wait till they made contact with Norrington and maybe bargain. She decided on a combination of the last two-whatever was inside might be valuable to them immediately, not a year from now. Jack was a pirate; certainly he might know a way to open locked chests without the key. She stood to go find the Captain.

Jack heard her stand up in the room and felt the vibrations of her feet carry her to the door. Panicking, he dashed into the adjoining room to hide. She walked past him, with a rush of air and determination. He peeked out to watch as she went by. He looked the other direction to see if anyone was there and carefully snuck into her room. He smiled upon seeing the chest sitting there, on the cot. It was a small, dusty thing with nothing particularly interesting about it. The lock itself was small, but complex. Sparrow could tell immediately it would never pick lose. Picking it up, he turned it over on all sides to inspect it for a weak spot, but found none. He shook it softly, heard a sliding noise. Shook it harder and heard a rattle.

"Jack, what are you doing?!"

He jumped up, spun around and managed to knock the box onto the ground. It shattered. Both stared at its contents as they lay on the ground between the two. Knitting her brows in consternation, Elizabeth slowly kneeled to further inspect them. She took the lamp from its holder off the wall, and lowered it to the floor. There were a collection of outlandish looking medallions on lengths on rope, each long enough to be hung about the neck. They were made of some, hard black stone. The pendants themselves were just wider than a woman's locket. Each was different, but all were similar in one respect. The symbol of the Bermuda Triangle was imprinted on the back side of all of them. Also in the box was a piece of manuscript. Elizabeth picked it up to read it, but after unrolling it, found it to be covered in strange symbols she didn't comprehend. Jack looked over her shoulder and scowled,

"Feng."

No, she thought, the stones were not fangs, what was Jack talking about? Then she realized 'Feng' must be a person.

"Who's Feng?"

Jack sighed deeply and leaned against the wall, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Imagine Barbossa, only younger and stronger."

Elizabeth started slightly at the name of Jack's mutinist mate. Did Sparrow know? No, he couldn't...

Jack saw the look that passed over her face when he said the formerly cursed man's name. It was a look of terror, of a secret kept but threatened.

He continued,

"Then, make him a score of times more evil and cut-throat. Finally, pretend he's in league with the East India Trading Company, but flies a Jolly Rouge. And that's who Feng is."

"So, he's a privateer? But Jack, that's what they wanted you to be."

Recalling the low price offered him for such a foul service with disgust, Jack continued on.

"No, he's not a privateer. Much worse, he's a bounty hunter."

He crossed over to where Elizabeth held the parchment and took it from her limp fingers. She was too confused to protest. Luckily, it was in Mandarin, not one of the other dialects. His eyes flashed over the page and the expression on his face grew more worried as he went.

Elizabeth let him finish, a test of self-control, before asking what it said.

"Jack? Did you hear me? What does it say?"

He had heard her, but didn't have the heart to say what the message contained. The Brethren were gathering, and the English Navy knew. Why hadn't he been contacted? Well, there had been that incident with Flint, man couldn't take a joke. Then he eerily recalled he'd been...dead. Yes, that's what had been bugging him this whole time. He remembered darkness, and then a flash of green light. He wouldn't have shown up on the charts if he was dead. His hand crept up to a piece of frayed rope around his neck, and he followed it to a pendant. He pulled it out and turned it over. The Triangle glinted with an odd purple light as it rolled on his palm.

Elizabeth saw the pendant and realized it was like the rest from the box. He's somehow connected, she thought. Well, no big surprise there. If there was something mystical and dangerous, no doubt Jack Sparrow was involved.

Jack knew that wasn't the worst part of the news. Turner and crew had been captured off the coast of Fiji. Among those captured, other notable names included the presumed dead Barbossa and a rum-runner, Gibbs. Jack smiled, remembering the good times he'd spent with Captain Morgan.

A slap from Elizabeth brought him back to his senses.

Knowing he'd deserved that, he simply glared at her.

"Well? What does it say? Or have you been staring at it trying to play chess?"

"Oh, it's nothing, just your "husband" and all 'is Navy pals 'appen to know when and where the Brethren'll be gathering. And, to make it even better, I wasn't invited."

"The Brethren? Oh-but that's, how? Feng?"

Jack nodded, motioned to the various pendants,

"He must've killed all these worthy swashbucklers looking for headings."

"But Jack, now we have them. Doesn't that mean that the Navy doesn't?"

Sparrow pondered this,

"Hard to say, love. He could've already told the EITC, or Norrington might've sent ahead a copy, like we know he's so fond of doing. Or we might have been inescapably lucky."

He had now started going through the pendants, muttering words of condolence to each.

"Well, looks as though Drake and Bellany should be there, and ah good, Granuaille, wonderful woman. Oh, bugger, they got William Knight and Edward Davis. Ay, Bonny too."

Elizabeth's eyebrows crossed even further in confusion. Weren't all those pirates...dead? Oh no, Jack was delusional.

"Jack...I know you respect those men and women, but aren't they all...dead?"

Jack turned and gave her a shocked look. She didn't know! And with all her childhood studying, she didn't know. He knew she'd seen Barbossa come back. Well, she hadn't said it, but it was obvious in how she'd reacted when he'd said the man's name. Her eyes had flashed with a vehemence Jack was used to receiving from women when they heard his name or saw his face. Barbossa had never been popular among the ladies.

"Lizzie, I know ye've heard of World's End?"

She nodded. That's where William had gone, oh God, William! What is he sailing into? Many pirates had developed certain lore of immortality about 'World's End'. But that was ridiculous. Then again, there was that undead crew on the Black Pearl, and that other undead crew on the Flying Dutchmen. Alright, maybe.

"Well, all a pirate, or any man who can sail, has to do when he's died is make it back from World's End."

"And why would one do that?"

"Well, because this world was just so much fun in the first place!"

He said this sarcastically, so Elizabeth gave up. She had wanted to ask him why he hadn't been informed about the foray, but decided not to. He seemed to have been genuinely offended by not being invited to the Gathering. Instead, she asked,

"Is that all? There's nothing else important in there?"

Jack didn't consider telling her for a moment about William. So, he nodded his head, hoping she wouldn't be able to tell he was lying. He felt a pang of guilt as she looked as though she accepted it for truth. He was certain that the crew and Will had been painfully tortured for information, than killed. There was no reason to tell her that.

"Jack, what happens when a man goes to World's End but he hasn't died?"

"You mean intentionally sail to the End of the World? Well, first, he's a git. But I suppose, he'd end up in Purgatory or somewhat like that. You tell me, Lizzie, I haven't been to church since I last tasted jemmies."

Elizabeth didn't know. From what she'd read of the Bible, it said nothing about undead monkeys or magical hearts, and certainly nothing about the End's of the Earth. Shrugging her shoulders,

"It's just that Tia Dalma, she sent them there."

Here, she paused and looked up at Jack questioningly,

"To get you. Jack, I must know. How did you escape the Kraken?"

He swallowed deeply. He had tried fighting the beast off, but had been...eaten.

"I didn't, love. I didn't."

Elizabeth was speechless. He'd died, and-but. Realization dawned on her. Of course, that's how he knew so much. He'd been through it. She picked up the medallion with a few recognizable symbols on it. There was a ship, The Queen Anne's Revenge, and a flag. It contained a skeleton holding a sword and a heart.

"This is Black Beard's, isn't it?"

Jack looked at it,

"Aye. He was with the Pearl last I saw. But Pintel and Ragetti got free, so I suppose he did too."

He turned it over, saw the scorched Triangle,

"But not for long."

He let it fall to the floor. Something had just occurred to him. How had Turner and crew made it clear to Fiji already? It had only been one, maybe two weeks since he'd washed up on Tortuga. How long had he been gone?

"Did Dalma go with them?"

"I...don't remember. She was at the port, but..." She trailed off, not understanding what difference that would make,

"Why?"

"Because that would explain a good deal. And, it would also be dear William's only prayer. This would also explain where all the Navy officers are. Poor Norrington must be so lost without his faithful Gillette."

He said this to himself. He stood and began to pace the decks again. It was now morning; he had been awake the entire night trying to figure things out. The sun crept across the port, creating silhouettes. The crew was just starting to get up, each tipping his hat as he passed the captain. Jack sighed in deep regret at the state of things. He longed for the day in which he could just stare out at the sparkling sea, without worries. As though this reminded him of the things at hand, he forced his mind to focus.

The Navy was trying to round up the pirates headed for the Brethren. All those sprees on that many crews must be taxing. But how were they doing it? Most of the Brethren had protective devices of more than the standard caliber...The Heart. What he'd been here for in the first place. They were using the Heart to control Jones and his crew. It all made sense now. Why he'd come back. They'd summoned him, from beyond his watery grave, to steal the Heart back. This was bad news indeed, if Jones was working for His Majesty's Navy, than a threatening note from him would mean nothing to Norrington.

"Well, that's a blighter in your plans, isn't it mate?"

Whose voice was that?

"If anybody could pirate it back, it was Jack Sparrow."

Who'd said that? Oh no, it's another voice in my head...as if my new found conscience wasn't enough.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth had been having her own thoughts. She followed him across the planks of the deck, but staying out of his way. She'd never seen him so deep in concentration and decided it was best to let him be. But then, her curiosity was too persistent to ignore.

"Jack, how many times can you sail back from World's End?"

"It's not like you just die, dust yourself off and come back again. There has to be a reason, Lizzie. The Brethren have to…summon you back. That's what the medallions are for."

He stopped his walking and turned to face her,

"To come back, a captain must hand off his medallion to his first mate. The first mate then has two options. He can either assume the role of captain, and someday pass off the duty to another. Or, if 'is captain was worthy, the mate would travel around till he found another one of the Brethren and beg for his captain to be summoned. That sort of thing doesn't happen too often. But when it does, the Brethren have one of their Gatherings. That's why all these pirates are done for"

He motioned to the pile of medallions,

"Only a captain's first mate can bring 'im back. All these sea dog's and their crews, first mate and all, are as cold as your shoulder."

He smiled good-naturedly at Elizabeth, but she ignored the remark.

Elizabeth was curious to learn even more about the Brethren, but decided against it. Jack had begun to look agitated. He pulled on his braided beard in deep concentration.

There'd been another thing, who'd summoned him back? He'd never been a captain in the Brethren, but had always tagged along, first mate to one man or another. How had he gotten a medallion? Upon closer inspection, it had a sparrow on it, and a perfect miniature of the Black Pearl. Strange, not only had he been summoned, but he'd also achieved actual membership. No longer was he just a first mate to them, but a bonafide captain. But it came with a price. He had to regain the Heart. Well, that doesn't really change things, that had been the plan all along. Glad to have all of the facts out in the open, and someone else sober enough to remember them, Jack smiled, a genuine smile of joy, for the first time since he'd come back.

"Well, now Lizzie, what do you gather our next step should be? Norrington is most likely back at Port Royale, having walked the distance from the south peninsula inland. Must have an amazing since of direction..."

"Or a compass. A compass!! Oh, Jack, of course, why didn't I think of it before?"

"Perhaps because you were entirely distracted by your dashing company."

She looked him up and down,

"Hardly. Unless, you mean by his smell. But that is quite beside the point. I still have your compass! Perhaps it could just show us where the Heart is, no need to wait around for Norrington to bite the bait."

She handed the heirloom to Sparrow, who looked at it sheepishly. He turned it so that only he could see where it pointed. Elizabeth tipped her head up to try and see. Catching her intention, he glared, and spun to face his back to her. The tiny arrow spun from facing west, back around to him. Choosing to ignore what that really meant, he tossed it over his shoulder.

"Bloody thing doesn't work. I think you were right, must be broken."

Elizabeth ducked forward to catch it, Jack caught the sight of her as he turned back around. Her hair had rippled in the motion, like the sea, and again her lips formed the 'o' of surprise. Deciding he had never had to take no for an answer before, he certainly wasn't going to start now. Whether it was love or lust, Jack Sparrow would have his way. He struck forward, into obviously unchartered regions.

"Lizzie, darling, you know, there isn't a remarkably good chance that William is going to survive. And I find it incredibly fallacious and in bad taste for you to become one of those women."