Fic: The War Within

Rating: M
Characters: Elizabeth/Jack Elizabeth/Will
Chapter Title: One Cannot live without Inconsistency.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean. Disney does, no money being made off this.
Summary: Captain Elizabeth Swann, Pirate Lord and King. Captain Jack Sparrow, Pirate Lord, lecherous pirate, son of the Keeper of the Code. What will happen on the eve of battle. JE. Reviews welcome.

Elizabeth stared at him from her chair.

Jack looked on at her, his face impassive. They were now quite alone. Teague had left them quickly and now in this room, they were alone, free from all others. He waited for her to break the silence. He knew that she wanted answers. So did he, come to think of it, but he was a patient man. She however… waiting added more fuel to her temper, stoking it, ready to burst at an inappropriate time. Jack waited.

Elizabeth knew that Jack would be thinking quickly in his mind. He would be planning his every step, and he would also plan for every contingency that arose. She looked at him, standing there waiting for her to say something.

She knew that deep down, she admired, almost respected Jack's ability to move quickly from thought to thought and amend plans as he went, always seeming to be ahead of everyone three or four steps. Elizabeth had read enough books about him that she had always imagined how that pirate would have planned his moves. She did not think about how he depended a lot on luck. She lifted her head high and spoke; her voice sounded loud following the silence.

"I know why you did it Jack."

Jack continued to look at her with that inscrutable gaze. He waited.

Elizabeth stood up and glared at him.

Elizabeth knew that she would have to hold her tongue if she wanted Jack's answer, for at this moment, it seemed that Jack would quite happily walk off in the opposite direction. She had to be careful if she wanted the right answers. She wanted his answer dammit! She did not want him to evade her questions. She would wait until he was ready to answer her and not a moment before.

Resolve stiffened her already ramrod back and she stood waiting, waiting for him to break a growing silence. After what seemed an interminable while, he finally spoke.

"And what did your brilliant powers of deduction deduct from my actions?" His voice was dry.

Elizabeth was showing annoyance in her face. She continued to glare at him and retorted, "I was the only Pirate Lord whom you might be able to influence." Her temper flared white-hot when she heard his answering chuckle. She stared at him in disbelief and anger. '- How dare he laugh?' She was right, not him!

"I was!" Elizabeth's voice rang out clearly in the chamber. "You saw it as a chance to vote the one person who might fit into your plans! I plan on fighting! You plan on staying alive to run away!

"Not so much running away, as just living to fight another day."

Elizabeth stopped, her lips pursed and her breath coming heavily. He truly was an infuriating man! She looked at him, her eyes narrowing and said in a derisive tone, "I know you Jack. You only saw the vote for me as a means to accomplish whatever it was you wanted to do. Too bad you hadn't counted on me." At his querying look, she clarified in a somewhat smug tone, "You have to follow me Jack. You nominated me Pirate King. You said, and I quote, 'I vote for… Captain Swann'."

"Did I?" he queried mockingly. "So I did."

He grinned at her. She thought the grin seemed somewhat inane to her. She tilted her head to the side in annoyance. "Jack…" she started derisively.

"Elizabeth…" he followed mockingly, a sardonic look on his bearded face. He waved one hand ineffectually, almost dismissively, in the air. "Must have been that time in the Locker. Must have addled my brain."

She scowled at him. "It was because I was the most deserving of the title!" she firmly stated. Elizabeth walked towards him, her eyes narrowed, challenging him to refute her statement. "And you know it Jack."

"Ah yes, that was it!" Jack's disparaging reply rang through the room. He looked almost pityingly at her. "I thought it was because you were the most deserving to be called King of Pirates." His tone then took on an almost scathing undertone. "After all, not that many Pirate Lords can be so worthy of the title as they do not often plan or execute such a well-planned demise of one that is their captain." He watched her closely and noted that she squirmed under his gaze. His voice low, "Perhaps Sao Feng should have been more careful. He wasn't aware of your mutinous tendencies."

"What are you implying Jack?" she asked, pulling up sharply. Her breath slammed into her chest when his dark eyes locked on hers. She held herself erect, bristling with self-righteous indignation. However, no answer seemed forthcoming and his gaze seemed locked on hers unwaveringly.

As Jack's eyes bore into hers, Elizabeth's guilt over her previous actions towards Jack assuaged her. It ate away at her almost constantly these days. She always tried to ignore it. Her plan had been to rescue Jack from the Locker, she would talk to him about it, he would forgive her and then she would be free of the guilt. But they had not talked and she was not yet free of the feelings of guilt; guilt from kissing him, tasting him; guilt from betraying Will; guilt from her realisation that she had been wrong; guilt in sending a man to his death. Elizabeth desperately fought for control of herself, and of the situation. She tried to hold his gaze, her face blank.

Jack was amused. The guilt she felt showed on her face. He could see it in her eyes, in her mannerisms, in every movement of her young body. It seemed to assail her at every moment. He was determined to make the most of his time left. He would enjoy this.

As no further comments came from her, he looked down at the ground thinking for a moment. Jack knew that he wanted to push her buttons, get that passion of Elizabeth's raised higher. He would push her buttons '– only a little bit' he told himself. The game was afoot! He raised his eyes back to her, smiled slightly and if she had but known what was going through his mind, she would have run from the room. "Tell me," Jack started innocently, "while on the Flying Dutchman…"

Elizabeth sighed. Jack was playing games again. She knew from the lack of seriousness in his tone. Her chest grew tight in remembrance of her time aboard the Flying Dutchman. Her thoughts focused on James and their kiss. She gave Jack a slight nod to continue.

"…So while you were aboard the Dutchman, did you perhaps come across our mutual friend Admiral Norrington?"

His eyes seemed to gleam, but she did not notice. She nodded again in affirmation; her throat tight in remembrance of her last sighting of James Norrington. "Yes," she replied in a low voice. "James…" Elizabeth lowered her eyes to the floor. "He died."

"Ah!" His head cocked to one side, taking in her somewhat dejected answer. He smiled to himself as he drove his shot in. He raised his eyebrow, as if in query. "Did you kiss him before you drive him to an early demise as well?"

Elizabeth's head snapped up. "Do not talk so of James! He was an honourable man!"

' – Point to Jack!' Jack sauntered towards her.

"Let's talk of honour then, shall we?" Jack held his arms held wide in front of him. "Beckett now rules the seven seas, thanks to his possession of the heart of Davy Jones which we saw on Isla Cruces, when we had possession of it." "That, alas, is when we, or at least I, last saw our former Commodore oh, and incidentally those Letters of Marque that you obtained." He turned to her, with a mocking bow. Straightening he added, "Now he turns up an Admiral in Beckett's company."

"James was on our side!" she declared hotly, refusing to accede to Jack what she thought he already knew. James only chose a side at the end. More guilt assailed her. James Norrington chose what she chose and he died. She felt truly at fault.

Jack smiled to himself. '- Feeling a mite guilty Miss Swann?,' he mused as their gazes held. He chuckled quietly to himself. '- Let's see how guilty you feel about young William eh?'

"Loyal to the end. You were never this loyal to young William." His eyebrows waggled at her, inviting her to recall her less than faithful moment on the deck of the Pearl, just moments before she chained Jack to the mast. He knew she had not been thinking so much of Will when her tongue explored his, when her lips suckled and claimed his.

Elizabeth tore her eyes away from Jack's knowing look. She knew she hadn't talked to Will. She had not explained to him why she was grieving so much for Jack. She had not explained to him that she felt guilt constantly over her contrived actions. She had not spoken properly to her fiancé, not for months since the Kraken took down Jack and the Pearl. She knew that Jack knew. Her heart ached for the web of deceit that she had concocted. Her parting words to Will had been that Will could not trust her. She did not expect Will to trust her, for she could not trust herself. Her heart twisted for the man who loved her.

"Will is a decent man," she said quietly.

"Yes, and that is why he is right here." The sarcasm was apparent in Jack's voice.

"He has his reasons!" Elizabeth cried. Her hands bunched into fists at her side. Anger rose in her. Anger at Will for not really knowing her; anger at Jack for his assumption that he knew her better than Will did; anger at Jack for teasing her this way. She shook with the force of her emotions at Jack's seemingly uncaring, somewhat dismissive glance. Her voice was low when she spoke. "Some people keep their promises Jack."

Jack sneered at Elizabeth as he walked closer to her. "Not all of us can afford to be altruistic."

"His father is alive!"

Jack stopped and looked heavenward. "Wonders will never cease. Bootstrap Bill Turner lives!" Jack turned back to her. "So now…he can make off the Flying Dutchman, quick-as-a-fiddle, right-as-rain, Bob's-your-uncle, and go off with young William and live happily ever after, isn't that the right of it, Lizzie-belle? Oh, yes that's a jolly good reason." Jack leaned his face directly into hers, forcing her to look at him. Jack drew away from her. "I'm sure young Captain Turner always has such good reasons."

Sickeningly, Elizabeth realised that Bootstrap would never live with his son. He was already dead. That was why he was already in service on the Dutchman. How stupid could she have been? Of course he was in servitude!

But what of Will? Was he willing to free his father at the cost of his own life? Elizabeth quickly recalled that Will betrayed them in order to get the Pearl. Had he betrayed them again this time? Will gave them all over in order to be Captain of the Black Pearl. He wanted to avenge his father. What other desperate measures would he be willing to take?

Elizabeth realised that she only knew that much before she went off with Sao Feng. Who knew what else Will planned? Stricken Elizabeth looked up at Jack. This man before her had given her to Sao Feng. She swallowed hard; her throat felt tight and constricted.

As if Jack read her mind, he asked, "Tell me, Elizabeth, how did Sao Feng die?"

Elizabeth looked startled at the question, before realisation dawned in her face. "I didn't kill him if that's what you mean! I watched him die Jack, right in front of me!"

"Ah yes, I'd forgotten." He smiled tauntingly at her. "You like men to die in front of you, preferably at your hands. Tell me – did you kiss Sao Feng?" Jack paused "… and was it before or after he was injured?"

Elizabeth's open palm went whistling through the air. Jack's hand shot out like a striking cobra, to grasp her wrist before she made contact.

"That's not playing nice, Lizzie."

His eyes were alert, and the whimsical Jack that Elizabeth was more familiar with had all but disappeared. She struggled to free her wrist from his grasp.

Jack tugged at her wrist, and Elizabeth fell toward him, her body coming into close contact with his. He gazed at her for a while, his face close to hers, before bringing his other arm up to hold her in place. Elizabeth gasped at the added contact and struggled anew. He grinned sardonically at her struggles.

She became heavily aware of how close they were, his thighs intimately touching hers, his hips pressed against hers. Her body betrayed her with an answering heat. Hating herself, she whispered shakily, "That's CaptainSwann to you, Jack."

Her breathing was rapid and her heart pounded. He held onto her wrist and waist tightly and, try as she might, she could not free herself. She hated that she was being reminded that physically, she was weaker than him.

She gasped as his leg moved; their thighs were touching that intimately. His hand still locked around her wrist, much in the manner as the manacle did on the deck of the Pearl. When next he spoke, her eyes fell on his lips.

He lifted his head to look her in the eye. His mouth lifted on one side, revealing his gold teeth. "Forgive me… Captain."

Elizabeth looked deep into his eyes. She could see the defensiveness that he hid, that he hid behind. This man had been through so much.

Her own mind was far from being clear, her thoughts jumbled within her head as she held Jack's eyes with her own. One clear word rose unbidden in her mind. 'Pirate.' It almost undid her. Other thoughts crowded her head after that one word, coming to her hard and fast, threatening her composure.

-"Elizabeth!"

-"Will!"

-"I keep the promises I make, Jack."

- "Elizabeth... Turner. I'm a maid in the Governor's household."

- "At least once more, Miss Swann, as always."

Elizabeth searched for some emotion, for something, anything in his eyes, but Jack's were unfathomable. Jack just stood, gazing at her. She felt uneasy for the second time that night.

-"Elizabeth... it would never have worked between us darling. I'm sorry..."

-"I'm not sorry."

Something wrenched inside her heart.

In a sudden moment of clarity, Elizabeth realised that his vote for her was his way of forgiving her for sending him to the Locker. She had been blind to the words behind his actions! He forgave her. Her heart leapt at the thought that perhaps he truly had forgiven her and she could be free of this guilt.

In disbelief at this realisation she stared at him and another memory passed through her mind.

-"As I said, persuade me."

Yes. Persuade me. Elizabeth recalled that simple phrase often in her sleep and when she thought of Jack. She could feel her heart starting to race. She remembered being so close to Jack when he held those letters of marque, the back of his hand brushing against her cheek. She herself had raised her face, her lips waiting for his to brush against them, nay to crush them beneath his. Elizabeth had wanted him to be dishonourable, to persuade her, to make her work for those letters. She had been crushed and yet relieved when they had been interrupted. Her breath caught in her throat as her eyes held his. With that one memory, something else unfurled within her … heat.

A thousand words went unsaid between them, yet it seemed as if they had indeed spoken them.

Jack finally spoke, breaking the heavy silence. "Not so easy eh Lizzie." He watched her expressive face; his own a mask, as if not wishing to betray his own feelings.

Unconsciously she softened towards him. She wanted him to know that she knew. What she had finally come to realise. She leaned into his body before speaking carefully, trying to convey what she wanted to say without saying too much.

"If one does not understand a person, one tends to regard him as a fool, Jack." She stared at him, willing him to see that she understood – finally. She had been a fool. Elizabeth leaned closer, willing him to place his lips on hers.

Jack frowned as he stared into her eyes. 'Did she know?' he wondered. Jack knew that he was at an impasse. He no longer had the compass – no that it mattered as it had not worked since he left Port Royal all that time ago. Life as he had known it had changed and not necessarily for the better. His heart ached and he knew that he could not get what he wanted. After all that time in the Locker, with his thoughts for company, he had decided that his stabbing the heart and taking the place as Captain would undoubtedly be more freeing than the life he would have here. Would he be willing to give in for just one time before he stabbed the heart? After all, his heart would be far from him – finally – and he would no longer have to deal with the pangs every time he saw this woman. Jack recalled the feeling of her lips on his, her tongue touching, tasting, licking, caressing his own. '- Oh for a lick.' What would one time matter?

His eyes flickered for a moment before taking on the whimsical nature that hid his many depths.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he said, referring to her closeness within his embrace. "You are encouraging a much liberated man who has spent many months in Davy Jones' Locker."

Jack's eyes bored into hers and her breath caught at the blazing light deep in his. '- What was he saying?' she questioned herself. 'Did he… was he…' Her breathing was harsh as she watched his intense gaze rove over her face and down her neck. Elizabeth froze as Jack leaned his head forward and breathed against her ear.

"A man who has been devoid of company …"

A frisson of heat tore through her body.

"…willing or otherwise…" he finished thickly, and he moved her body agonisingly slowly against him.

She felt the answering heat all over her body.

"There are those who would not wait to throw a woman down and have their way with them… Elizabeth."

As his lips brushed the column of her throat, she moaned. She felt him smile against her skin. Her body ached for more. She leaned back against his arm and pushed her hips forward to his. '– Just once more,' she claimed silently. She moved her hand up to the nape of his neck and leaned forward.

Jack could feel Elizabeth pushing against him and he desperately wanted to give into the feelings that he had buried deep within. '- Just once more', he groaned to himself. 'I need to feel…'

Jack knew that he would be condemning himself to a lifelong and beyond servitude when he stabbed the heart, but he knew that he had Tia Dalma, nay, Calypso's blessing. That was why she had encouraged Elizabeth to help him get what he wanted. He also knew that he would never have his love waiting every ten years for him. He would be cursed to live his life alone. Perhaps Bootstrap would be willing to stay as First Mate when Jack became Captain of the Flying Dutchman.

He stopped as she moved willingly against him. Memories of William Turner – both of them – came unbidden to him. Bootstrap and young Master Turner. They were both good men and they had done right by him. He needed to do right by them. Right now, he needed to be honourable; a decent man.

"Thank you for the offer," his voice husky as her body moved temptingly against his, "but I will have to hastily decline…," With that, he relinquished his hold on her and flung her wrist from him, as if disgusted.

She fell back from him and stumbled a little before righting herself.

"By your leave, Elizabeth…" he bowed mockingly.

She stared at him, her emotions running across her face – disbelief, hunger, humiliation, anger. "You're despicable." She hissed.

A flash of memory echoed in both their heads…

- "Stick and stones love. I saved your life. You save mine. We're square."

"Knowing your own darkness is the best method for dealing with the darknesses of other people." Jack said cryptically before he turned from her.

"I intend to go after Will and free him from Beckett," Elizabeth called impulsively to Jack's retreating back. She knew she wanted to say something before he left the room. Elizabeth had searched her mind quickly. '- And that's best you could come up with?' She asked herself with a quiet groan.

He was almost at the entrance when he stopped. He inclined his head toward to her and his eyes held hers.

"Did it ever occur to you that young William might be exactly where he wishes to be?"

She stared at him.

His voice floated back to her. "The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely."

His parting words echoed in the almost empty chamber. Elizabeth hated that he always seemed to have the last word.

Reviews welcome! TJ. More chapters to follow.