Pirates of the Caribbean 4: Aqua de Vida

By: Eriksleadinglady

Summary: Jack's out on a quest for the Fountain of Youth and the Black Pearl; Will has to deal with being the Captain of the Flying Dutchman; Elizabeth is a Captain herself; and Barbossa is trying to beat Jack to the finish line. Now, their fates are intertwined, but how do they join?

Disclaimer: PotC is not mine, including all of its affiliated characters. However, any OC's that may pop up are mine.

Chapter 3: Marooned? Again?

Jack paced in front of the crew, looking down at his feet, watching them move one after the other. Two of Will's crewmen were holding Barbossa captive at the front of the group of the Black Pearl's crew.

Barbossa rolled his eyes. "So what are ya going to do with me, Jack? Kill me?"

Pausing in his pacing, but still looking at his feet, he responded, "I think my left foot is bigger than my right." At the end of the statement he looked toward Capt. Turner. "Is that bad?"

This time the entire crew rolled their eyes' and groaned.

"What?" questioned Jack defiantly as he leaned back, squinting vigorously at the crews.

Looking around at the crew and seeing that not one of them was going to speak, Will sighed, "Barbossa?"

Jack only swayed and looked around at the ship, fingering the hilt of his sword.

"Jack?" repeated Will.

"Captain Jack," corrected the pirate.

"You don't call me Captain Will."

Jack leaned over and harshly whispered, "Because I am much more wiser than you."

"And older," sniggered Ragetti.

Jack turned his attention toward him and Pintel. "Hey! William is much more older than me in the sense of the amount of years he will live on this earth, which will be much more considering the tender fact that he will forever be bound to wander the depths of seas in search for the non-living to transport them to their place of non-living, which is a job that, almost considering, I never took. In this sense, Will shall have many more days on my account long after I am gone."

All of the crew just stood there, mouth agape, drool spilling over the side of their mouths. No one really understood whatever Jack had just stated, but they just shrugged and continued onward.

"So what are you going to do with Barbossa?" still questioned Will, since it had been so keenly avoided on the past attempts that he had tried to ask it.

"Oh, well that's an easy one," declared Jack as he stepped onto the rail and grabbed hold of the line. "Maroon him." Jack smiled as he looked over his shoulder in order to capture the reaction of said former captain.

However, Jack was quite disappointed, for Barbossa showed only indifference, or maybe even possible letdown. "How original, Jack," drawled Barbossa.

Jack's smile immediately melted off his face. "Well I thought it was rather fitting, since you did it to me," he paused, "twice."

Barbossa smiled and laughed quietly at the memory. Those were the good times. But drawing him out of his reverie, Jack yelled, "Land ho!"

Both the crews turned their attention to the land mass that Jack indicated and all of them (except for Barbossa and the crew of the Dutchmen) recognized it as Cannibal Island. Once he looked upon the island, Jack seemed to remember what had taken place there for he cringed and frowned upon it. Basically, he was just glad that he was not the one going back there.

"We're not goin' on that there island, are we Capt'n?" gulped Ragetti.

"Yeah! I don't want ta be killed…" added Pintel.

Jack waved them off with a flick of his wrist as he prepared Barbossa for his dispatch. "Of course we're not going on that island. However, Barbossa here gets to meet the indigenous people that live there," added Jack with a grin. "Perhaps they'll be as inviting for him as they were for me!"

Barbossa rolled as his eyes as he was being led toward the plank. Really, he wasn't too worried about what would happen, because he believed himself to be a very good people person. If there was an indigenous tribe that lived on this island, then that meant that there was indeed a chance for his rescue. After all, they would have to have a ship, wouldn't they? By the time that Barbossa reached the end of the plank, he was quite confident in the fact that he would escape this "Cannibal Island."

Thinking Jack foolish for this choice of maroonment, he said, "So this is it then, Jack? Just going to leave me to the tribal people?"

Jack swayed. "Yep."

Barbossa nodded his head, smiling as he did so. "Well, then, I'll be seeing ya." Turning back around, Barbossa jumped feet first into the water, sword in hand, just like was custom for marooning. Slicing off his rope bindings around his wrists, he swam up to the surface and to the beachy shore. As he stood on the shore, watching his ship sail away, he couldn't help laughing at Jack's folly and hating him at the same time.

Back aboard the Black Pearl, Jack was ordering around his crew, preparing to once again go and sail the sea on a wild, dangerous adventure. Will was standing on the side of the ship, his crew behind him, waiting for Jack to notice that he was still there. And it didn't take long for that to happen.

Walking over to him, Jack declared, "Oi! What are you still doing here, mate? I got me ship back – "

"I need information Jack," simply said Will.

Jack frowned and looked a little disappointed. "Oh. Right."

"So where are you going?"

Jack turned around and began giving orders once again. After that, with his back still turned, he said, "I am off to find the Fountain of Youth."

A few of the Dutchman's ship members began whispering among themselves. To this, Will yelled a quick "Quiet!" before asking, "And you know where it is?"

At last Jack turned around and faced William. From his inside jacket pocket, Jack pulled out the circular charts he had stolen from Barbossa. "I have a general idea," admitted Jack, gently touching the charts.

Will quickly crossed the space between them and muttered, "I need to know how to get there, Jack."

Said pirate leaned back and said, "Do you now? That's your problem, mate, not mine. You only wanted to know where I was going, not how to get there." Whispering, he added, "Perhaps next time, you should make your grounds for negotiation a little more clear, eh?"

Frowning, Will nodded his head and backed up toward his crew and ship. "All right then, Jack. But this won't be last time you'll be seeing me. I will get to that fountain before you. You can count on it."

With that, the rest of the crew growled in agreement and went back aboard the Flying Dutchman, leaving Jack not all perturbed in the slightest. After all, what made them think that they would be able to find the Fountain of Youth?

A/N: Thank you all so very much for the kind reviews! They mean the world to me! I hope you enjoyed this installment and let me know your thoughts! Thanks!

Much evil love,

E.Ll

P.S. An edit was made pertaining to the title. It was Viva, but it is supposed to be Vida. Hee hee. My bad. So that is changed. And tisk tisk to you all who didn't notice! And to you who noticed and didn't tell me: )