A/N: Hello again everybody! Your reviews really blew me away -- thanks for taking the time to leave a positive remark, and to point out my mistakes. I really appreciated it. I do address the mistake at the bottom of the chapter. Please read and let me know what you think!

Chapter Two

On Davy Jones' cursed ship, the deck does not rock back and forth atop the waves and the sails do not blow in the wind. Instead water rushes above, around, and below the vessel, and it holds perfectly still and to a true course, as it speeds through the water.

Legends say it is an eerie thing when you first experience it -- after all, a sailor becomes accustomed to feeling the deck rock beneath his feet when he's sailing towards the next port. But then, as legend would have it, everything about The Flying Dutchman is frightening. The way it sails, its crew -- and its captain.

Davy Jones sat in his cabin playing on his organ, the notes sounding through the still water like a funeral dirge. His pipe clicked between his lips as he listened to running footsteps approaching his door. Who would dare -- ?

The door opened with a bang to reveal "Bootstrap" Bill Turner, panting, his face covered in barnacles. If a pirate of Davy Jones' crew could manage to look even more unkempt than usual, Bootstrap had done it. He looked haggard and worn, as though the agelessness of serving before the mast of The Flying Dutchman was not applying to him. Lines creased his pale skin and his eyes searched the captains' quarters frantically, as though expecting to find whatever he sought staring him in the face.

"Captain!" He cried.

"Mr. Turner, are you under the impression that you can come rushing in to my quarters without permission?" The captain's voice was permeated with a dangerous sarcasm.

"Captain," the man continued as though oblivious to the trouble he was bringing down upon his own head, "the men are saying that Jack Sparrow isn't dead."

"That may be so. Is it your concern Mr. Turner?"

"Yes Captain. My--my son was sailing with Sparrow when you sent the...Kraken."

"Your concern, is it?"

"Yes Captain, I--" Bootstrap only now seemed to start to care about the danger he was putting himself in.

"Because I was under the impression that your concern was keeping this ship sailing!"

"Captain --"

"Mr. Turner, return to your duties or face the...unpleasant consequences of interrupting Davy Jones. You are lucky that I am in a fair mood."

Bootstrap stood, helpless and silenced as the Captain strode out of his cabin. Davy Jones turned back at the last minute, what might have been a grim smile playing on his lips, underneath his tentacles.

"You have been informed correctly Mr. Turner. Jack Sparrow is not dead."

For an instant a smile lit the face of Bootstrap Bill Turner, and he looked almost alive.

"As soon as we have secured my chest, we will find him and all who sail with him, and kill each and every last man aboard."

The ship sailed on beneath the waves as the unearthly cackle of it's captain rang through the water.

Half a world away, underneath a bright sun, William Turner stood on the deck of a ship, provided by the natives of the bayou.

When the ship was pulled from the swamp on ropes by a group of silent men and women, Will and the rest of the crew had stared in disbelief.

"How did a ship come to be in the middle of a swamp?" Will had asked, eyeing it with no small suspicion.

"The people of the bayou are mysterious. I am one of them. And they mourn for Jack. They want you to bring him back."

It had been left at that. No one wanted to question at all thoroughly the ship that would take them out to open sea -- and to rescue Jack.

To rescue Jack. He had agreed to rescue Jack Sparrow. Why?

He wanted to think it was because he was a good man, and an honorable one, and that he would go to any lengths to save a friend. But perhaps it was because he would to go any lengths to revenge himself upon his enemies...

"Will!" Will started. It was Mr. Gibbs, holding a barrel.

"Take this below deck, hmm?"

Will obligingly took the barrel and heard a sloshing noise. He raised an eyebrow.

"Rum?"

"What else?" Asked Pintel as he passed by, grinning. Ragetti giggled. Will shook his head slightly and carried the barrel below deck, wonderingly idly if simply throwing it overboard would cause a complete mutiny.

Above deck Barbossa was inspecting every inch of the new ship that was now his to command. He looked eager to be gone, his fingers clenched and unclenched, tapping on the deck railing and the handle of his sword, and his eyes roved over the open horizon. Tia Dalma stood watching as the ship was made ready. She laughed softly to herself.

"Once cursed pirates, a governor's daughter, and a would-be blacksmith." Her eyes found Will, clambering back up the stairs to say something to Gibbs.

"A touch of destiny..." She murmured to herself.

"You are ready to make sail?" She called loudly to the strangely assorted crew.

"Aye." Came the varied chorus.

"Then godspeed. Find Jack. And do not get caught in the glow."

"The glow of what?" Elizabeth asked immediately.

Tia Dalma shrugged. "Of treasure. Of adventure. Of freedom. Of the open seas. Who knows? Not only gold glows after all. All I know is this. Do not get caught in the glow."

"And if you don't mind me inquiring, how do you know?" Gibbs asked.

"I know many things Mr. Gibbs, and it is not for you to know how or why. Good luck."

The ship was cast off, it's mooring lines loosened, and it headed out towards open waters.

Gibbs frowned resignedly and turned to his new captain. The entire crew did so, with no small trepidation.

"Well Captain, what's our heading?" Gibbs asked, his hand on the wheel. Barbossa did not respond. "Captain? Where are we headed sir?"

Barbossa gave his crooked smile. "The end of the world." He took the wheel himself.

"Er, would you be meaning that literally or figuratively sir?" Ragetti asked, his wooden eye rolling in its socket.

"Well now, that all depends on what happens when we get there."

A/N: I sincerely hope I did not disappoint.

As to the mistake I made in the previous chapter...

Thank you to both Phoenix Plames and Riderazzo for pointing out my mistake -- that is to say, that the Interceptor was destroyed by the Black Pearl in the previous movie. Sorry about that -- sloppy on my part. Thanks again guys!

And thanks to everybody who reviewed the first chapter! I've heard we're not allowed to do individual reviewer thank you's any more (true?) so I'll just say that it was really encouraging and exciting to have such a positive response. I certainly hope I can make this story fulfill any and all expectations.