I'm trying to space these chapters out, knowing I have a pile of homework that is steadily growing; however, the more I think about this story, the more I tweak it in my head, the quicker I feel the need to get it written down.

So I guess, tonight, my life can wait.

Chapter 4: Search and Discovery

Jack sighed deeply. He supposed he would need to follow, knowing this was no small island that she could circumnavigate in a matter of a few minutes. Since he knew that she probably couldn't get lost just going forward, and he always had his compass if she happened to diverge from her course into harder, unprintable ground, if there was any, he was in not in any hurry to get started.

He took another glance around, hoping some change would have been visible in the landscape. All he saw were footsteps, two sets coming up behind him, the smaller set, heading away, and a number of roughed up patches in the sand where they had spent the night. As he glanced away, he caught sight of a glint of light from Elizabeth's sleeping spot. His dark eyes widened and the gold in his smile shone as he seized his prize. The rum bottle. Bless her for dropping it, he thought. Curse her for making him wait, he mused as his face immediately pouted. But bless her for leaving it for him, he chortled as his grin returned. Maybe Hell wouldn't be too awful after all.

"I have my bottle of rum, I have my bottle of rum," he chanted, doing a happy dance. Then he stopped. Although he knew no-one was around, he decided it would not hurt to act like it didn't really matter that he had his rum. He checked around one last time, just in case, and decided he better go find Elizabeth.

He took a healthy swig from his bottle, then reluctantly corked it and put it in his sash. He was going to hate rationing it. In fact, he already did, considering it wasn't working on him in the small doses he had had. He almost, almost, felt it unbearably unnecessary to even have it with him. But of course, that was utter nonsense.

He followed the beach for what seemed an interminable amount of time, alone with his thoughts and musings. He had had quite an adventurous life, keeping in mind that he had brought a lot of those "adventures" upon himself. Just since he met Elizabeth he had been in jail no less than twice and the brig of the Black Pearl once. He had killed a just recently uncursed pirate and freed his beloved Pearl, which had then been absconded by his own crew. Fortunately for them, they had returned and begged him to take it back after he had escaped the gallows. He had also sought, procured, and used a key to open a buried chest, dug up by an ex-naval officer under his command. The chest held the still beating heart of the most cursed pirate to sail the seas.

As these thoughts came to mind, his grin faltered, for it all seemed to go awry after that. After a hard-fought battle with the same ex-naval officer and the fiancé of the most curiously intolerable skirt that had ever graced the decks of the Pearl … not that she wore skirts that much lately … he won the heart, briefly. He'd ironically had lost it to the idiot officer, who he had gone after in the midst of a battle with a huge sea monster ….

His thoughts stopped there. For suddenly, he realized that the footprints had wandered off into the water. He blinked. They … just … went into the water. He followed them, but they had already smoothed away under the water. Considering that there was no movement in the sea, he didn't know how that was possible. But then again, it was Hell … whoever was in charge here could do what he/she/it wanted. His eyes scanned the surface of the water, looking for any drowning governor's daughters, but there wasn't even a ripple. And he certainly wasn't going to search the entire ocean for her… even if he couldn't die. Although it would be something to pass the time. On the other hand, if he couldn't die, neither should she be able to.

He shook off his thoughts. No time for that when there was a woman out there that was in need of rescuing… maybe. For the first time in his life, Jack was stumped. She couldn't die by drowning, yet she was not visible in the water, so she wasn't above the water. That meant she was underwater…

Bugger it. He was not going to keep blathering about this. He wanted to move on, so he plopped down into the sand. Once again he hauled off his boots and stockings, and waded into the water. He continued down the beach in the same direction, hoping to find prints as he went along, prints that hadn't washed away yet. Every now and then, he glanced up into the ocean looking for any thrashing bodies.

His attention remained so focused on the sand beneath the water that he almost stumbled over the longboat. He drew back in astonishment, and glanced wildly about, looking for the owner of said longboat. No-one seemed to be roaming about the isolated beach, so he scanned the ocean once again. What he saw there both alarmed and delighted him at the same time. He saw the hulking shape of a black galleon with black sails. She looked a little worse for wear, but she was definitely floating. He smiled widely and looked back at the longboat. It seemed to invite him aboard, and he accepted the invitation. He pushed it into the water, and began rowing towards his Pearl.

As he approached, he glanced over his shoulder to check for damage to his vessel. He saw the scars left by the Kraken, and cracks in the wood, but he supposed that if his body was left relatively unscathed by the teeth marks and digestion of the beastie, his ship was just as likely to be seaworthy. Passing the bow of the ship, he did notice the figurehead. One wing looked a bit bent, and the body seemed torn away from the ship, hanging by a sliver, although he knew it was probably more anchored than it looked. Happy to see his beauty, he saluted her with a jaunty wave and rowed onward. For some reason, it looked as if a wing fluttered on the bird in her hand, but he then noticed a piece of sail had come loose and fallen, draped delicately on the outstretched hand.

He felt the bow of the longboat bump the side of the ship and he looked up, wondering how he was going to board. He imagined the ladder was still hanging off the side of the ship, so he rowed around the stern. He glanced up as he did so, looking towards the windows of his cabin and winced at the holes he saw there. His beautiful ship was going to need work, although he had no idea where he was going to get wood to repair her.

He found the ladder and clambered up it. As he hoisted himself over the gunwale, his face fell at the mess aboard. Although he had been cleaned up and healed, his ship must have not met the necessary criteria to get the same treatment. He frowned, saddened by the destruction to his beloved. As he wandered through the cabin, he picked up bits and pieces, and stowed those things that had been loosened by the cannon fire and the Kraken's thrashings. He reached his bunk and sat on the edge, woefully surveying the new windows in his cabin, and wondering if it would be worth his while to even get started. He pulled out his rum, and took a long drag. It was going to be a lot of work, especially alone.

Just at that moment, he heard from the head of the ship a dragging sound, like someone was trying to gather one of the fallen sails. He bolted out of his cabin, rushing toward the sound, and stopped short at what he saw. Elizabeth stood before him, back in her breeches and a man's shirt, trying to pull the canvas around to a comfortable position … appearing, for all intents and purposes, to prepare herself to mend the sail.