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For Family
Managing to sneak into the Captain's Cabin where the British were guarding the heart, Laura and Jack began to collect their effects, which happened to be in the same room.
"Hold it or I'll shoot!" one of the two soldiers, Mullroy, demanded, pointing his small cannon at Jack.
"Good one," the captain commented after a hole was blown through the wall by a cannon outside. "I just came to get me effects. Admirable though it may be, why are you here when you could be elsewhere?"
"Someone has to stay and guard the chest," the other officer, Murtogg, replied, aiming his own weapon back at the heart.
"There is no question," Mullroy stated to his colleague, "there has been a breakdown in military discipline aboard this vessel."
"I blame the fish people."
"Oh! So fish people, by dint of being fish people, automatically aren't as disciplined as non-fish people?"
Jack snuck up between the arguing Brits and quickly grabbed the chest without their notice. He then quietly strode out the door, closely followed by his companion.
"Seems contributory, is all I'm suggesting," Laura last heard of the redcoats continuing their bickering. Creeping onto the deck, Jack and Laura were suddenly confronted by Jones and several of his crewmen.
"Lookie here, boys," the fishy captain noted. "Two lost birds. Two lost birds that never learned to fly."
"To my great regret," Jack replied, making eye contact with Laura, who nodded in response while shifting towards the ship's side. "But never too late to learn, eh?"
At this, the infamous pirate grabbed a rope and knocked it loose, catapulting him into the air.
"Bye, Jack," the girl whispered, watching her superior disappear up into the fog.
-He's probably wondering why I didn't grab onto him last minute. I have to find Will-
After getting away from the fish-men for a moment (Jones had vanished), she was able to take a respite and look at her surroundings. The Flying Dutchman and the Black Pearl were locked in battle near the center of a maelstrom. People from both sides were on each ship fighting each other. Following several minutes of stabbing and pushing her enemies over the side, Laura spotted Will landing on the Dutchman's deck via a swinging rope.
"Turner!" one of the fish-men yelled at Will prior to attempting an attack. Unfortunately for the foe, Jack the monkey came flying out of nowhere and latched onto the pirate's face, causing him to fall over.
"Thank you, Jack," the older twin said.
In the middle of challenging another crewman, Laura called to her brother,
"Will, it's good to see that you finally made it!"
Suddenly, her joy turned to worry as Bootstrap attacked Will. Before the girl could go to her brother's aid, she was assaulted by two more enemies. Eliminating the threat they posed, the Laura's eyes fell upon Elizabeth landing on the deck…with Jones in front of her. Internal conflict instantly commenced.
-I have to help Will and keep my promise to my father, but he'll be furious if let Elizabeth die. Oh, sometimes I hate being me!-
"All right then!" Davy was saying to Elizabeth. "You'll receive no mercy from me!"
"That's why I brought this!" the woman answered, pulling her sword out of its sheath.
"Jones!" Laura called after the other woman had been knocked down by Davy and his sword was raised for the final blow.
"Ha! Come to join me crew, lassie?" he asked.
"No, I'm just not prepared to let you ruin the lives of my remaining family."
The ferocious battle between the two foes lasted for only a few seconds before Jones lashed out with his claw and hit Laura in the back of the head, causing her to collapse. Trying to ignore the pain in the back of her head, the piratess saw Davy looming over her.
"You always were stubborn," he said, grinning cruelly as he drew a second sword. It had silver in handle and the initials L.L.T. etched on the blade; the sword that Laura had made during her short time as a blacksmith's apprentice in Tortuga. "Does this look familiar?"
The young woman cried out in agony as her own old sword's blade pierced her chest. As she struggled to stay conscious, Laura saw Jones get stabbed from behind by Will.
"Mister, did you forget? I'm a heartless wretch," Davy said prior to kicking Will over. When her vision blurred, the younger sibling relied on her hearing to keep trying to pay attention. "Ah, love. A dreadful bond. And yet so easily severed. Tell me, William Turner, do you fear death?"
"Do you?" Jack asked all of a sudden. "Heady tonic, holding life and death in the palm of one's hand."
"You're a cruel man, Jack Sparrow."
"Cruel is a matter of perspective."
"Is it, now?"
Laura forced her eyes to open when she heard Will gasp in pain.
-No-
"Will! Will!" Elizabeth was yelling. Everything else the woman said faded into the background as the infamous piratess witnessed Davy Jones writhe in pain and fall over the side of the ship.
"It's over," Laura whispered. Smiling weakly, she closed her eyes and let herself slip away into the welcoming darkness.
--
Her eyes fluttered open. The first thing she noted was that all of her pain was gone. Then, she saw Will standing next to her. That was when she realized that they were underwater.
-I'm breathing underwater?!-
Grabbing the hand of his sister, the older Turner dragged Laura up to the helm and began steering the ship with the girl clinging to the railing. The Flying Dutchman then burst out of the water, sea-growth dropping from it and the crew, leaving them in their original state. While Will was bringing the ship towards the Endeavor, calling out to the crew,
"Ready the guns!" Laura looked at his chest and at the almost fresh-looking cut. Glancing down at her own torso and moving the collar aside, she saw a similar mark.
"Will, do you mind telling me what this is about?" she questioned him.
The Pearl was sailing vertically with the Dutchman on either side of the British vessel.
"Fire!" Will called to the crew. While the enemy was being blown to pieces, he looked at his sister. "I died; father cut out my heart and made me captain of the Dutchman. I couldn't just leave you the way you were. You did, after all, save Elizabeth. So, I asked for father's help and he revealed that I could cut your heart out as well…and bind you to the Dutchman."
"I understand. So that means that my fate is bound to yours."
"…yes."
"Well then, Elizabeth is gonna pay if she's unfaithful…and I don't mean by you."
As the Endeavor exploded, Will slightly laughed, however, they soon lost their sense of humor when the mood of the situation descended upon them. A few minutes later, Will was staring off at Elizabeth on the Pearl. She was staring right back.
"During the fight," he said to his sister nearby, "Barbossa married us."
Knowing that Will was obviously talking about himself and Elizabeth, Laura sympathetically put a hand on her brother's shoulder.
"Go to her, Will. You still have until tomorrow evening before we have to leave and most of Shipwreck Island is secluded."
"What will you do until tomorrow?"
"I have a few ideas."
"Orders, sir," Bootstrap requested, approaching them. His memory had not returned.
"You're no longer bound to the Dutchman," Will replied. "You're free."
"Aye, that's a fine thing, but, by my reckoning, I still have a debt that has to be paid…if you and your first mate will have me."
Laura smiled at her new title while her brother answered,
"On the wheel, then, Mr. Turner."
"Aye, Captain Turner." When he saw Will continuing to stare at Elizabeth, he went on, "This ship has a purpose again, and where we are bound, she cannot come. One day ashore, ten years at sea. It's a steep price for what's been done."
"Depends on the one day."
"Go," Laura coaxed.
After Will left, she climbed down the ladder, leaving the Dutchman under Bootstrap's command, and swam over to her beloved Pearl. Still on the ladder, she fondly caressed the ship's side.
-At least ten years before I'll see this vessel again-
On the ship's deck, the piratess was met by Gibbs, along with most of the crew; however, Jack was not among them.
"Come to say goodbye to your old friends, Miss Turner?" the first mate queried with a hint of a smile.
"When do you plan on leaving, Mr. Gibbs?" the girl asked him.
"Some time after sunrise tomorrow."
"Good. I've always wanted to watch the stars on this ship's deck, and now I have my chance."
"Miss Turner," Barbossa addressed her, "as much as I despised ye, I have to admit that I always had a slight admiration for ye."
"Thank you, Barbossa," she replied as the crew dispersed, leaving her to finger the boards and railings of the craft she had called home for some time.
-It was Jack's obsession, that's why I love it so-
Laura walked to the port side of the ship to watch the sunset. The crewmen respectfully walked to another part of the ship, leaving her in utter silence.
--
That night, on the deck at the bow, Laura lay on her back staring at the countless stars.
"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me. We pillage, we plunder, we rifle, we loot, drink up, me hearties, yo ho…" She interrupted as Jack sang,
"…and really bad eggs. Drink up, me hearties, yo ho."
"I was wondering when you were going to show up."
The captain lightly laughed.
"I was wondering when you were going to come yell at me."
The two friends chuckled together.
"Jack, you know how I feel about you by now, right?"
"Of course, luv. For some time now, in fact."
Standing, Laura leaned her head against Jack's shoulder while they both stared at the stars.
"Ten years from now, my fate will not depend on you; however I do wish to know whether I am your only real love…your love will mean nothing to me if there is someone else."
At this, she faced the captain, who casually replied,
"You know me well enough. What do you think?"
"I can't judge you for what I've seen, since you've always been so unpredictable."
"Very well, then I will answer you this: you will always be the only one I truly love."
Laura was slightly shocked at Jack's earnestness, but she calmly responded,
"I will hold you to that ten years from now."
Gently kissing her captain on the cheek, the young Turner forced herself to return to the Dutchman without looking back.
--
Throughout the next day, Laura settled her position as the new first mate. For the rest of the evening, she gazed at the horizon in the direction of the Pearl until Will returned at sunset.
"Time to go, I suppose?" she asked her brother.
"Yes," he replied with slight emotion in his voice.
-Now, to resign myself to a new life-
As the sky flashed green, they began their first trip of ferrying the souls to the next world.
Thanks for reading. I still have one more chapter to go which will explain Laura's future. Please review and give me advice on what she should do after her release from the Dutchman…don't ask, I'm just going with an idea I found online which involves Calypso freeing Will ten years later. I will, however, start it tomorrow (Oct. 20) evening, so that will be the time limit for advice. I really appreciate it.