Chapter 8: An Unexpected Reunion

The big pirate literally carried me with one hand by the back of my shirt. Jeez this guy is either really strong or I haven't been eating as much as I should. "Um, excuse me. Is there any chance that you could put me down?" I asked nicely. The pirate said nothing. I tried another tactic. "Put me down, now!" I ordered. Again, he did nothing, just kept walking.

I started kicking and struggling, shouting at him to put me down. I must have looked like a child in a fit, which I was. Being so focused on getting out of his grip I hadn't realized where we had gone. The pirate pushed through a crowd. My foot connected with the back of someone's head.

Next thing I knew I was thrown on the ground. I landed on my hands and knees. "I said put me down, not throw me down! That was throwing! Learn the difference, you bloody git!" I shouted over my shoulder. Still on my knees I looked around and then up. "Oh."

Staring down at me, on my right, was Captain Barbossa. I just insulted his crew. Why did I do that? On my right was Jack Sparrow. "Heh, heh. Hi, Jack." I said cautiously and began to stand. I started laughing nervously and turned to Barbossa. "That was an excellent speech, by the way. Very motivational. Although the part where you slapped Elizabeth was a little over the edge." I said. Jack graoned and rubbed his temples.

"Flattery will get you no where, lad." Barbossa said with a smirk.

"Well, it was worth a try. By the way, you may want tell the man who threw me in front of you the difference between throwing and putting. He doesn't seem to know, or maybe he just doesn't like me. Hmm, never mind, he probably doesn't like me. No one really does when they first meet me." I said nervously.

Barbossa raised an eyebrow. "I wonder why." he said sarcastically. He then turned to Jack. "You know this boy, Sparrow?"

"Yes, he's, um… under my care, I guess." Jack said hesitantly.

"I don't need to be under anyone's care." I said. Jack glared at me, like he was urging me to be quiet. Barbossa was staring at me with a strange look in his eyes, like he was trying to remember something. To be honest, I felt the same way too. The man with the feathered hat seemed vaguely familiar.

"He was stuffing his pockets when I found him." the big pirate said behind me.

"That is a lie, I was doing no such thing. When I ran into him I was, well, running. However, before I ran into him I was stuffing my pockets with gold." I said. Barbossa glared at me. Jason, you idiot! You shouldn't have said that. I laughed nervously again.

The big pirate lifted me up and flipped me around so he was holding me by my ankles. Am I really that light? All the loot I had picked up earlier fell from my pockets, along with my pistol. Somehow, my swords and knife stayed in place. "Fils de pute." I muttered. The pirate dropped me. I tucked in my chin to make sure I didn't crack open my skull, but the landing still hurt.

Barbossa was looking down at me, his eyes were narrowed. "Faithful cabin boy of yours, Jack?"

"Why, Hector, I'm surprised at you. Even I knew who he was and I've never met him before a few days ago. Although, I doubt you have either." Jack said smugly.

Barbossa looked at him and then back down to me. He grabbed the collar of my shirt and lifted me to my feet. I stumbled a bit after he let go. The pirate captain was studying my face. A sudden realization came over him. "Jason?" he asked.

"Yes?" I asked calmly but then I realized I never told him my name. "Wait! You know my name? How do you know my name?" I started freaking out. I looked at Jack but he seemed just as confused as I was. In fact, the only person that didn't look confused was Barbossa.

He was grinning smugly at me. "I see you still got that necklace I gave ya." he said nodding at the accessory around my neck.

"What are you talking about? The necklace was a gift from my father." I was very confused.

"Wait, you knew about him?" Jack asked.

"Of course I knew about him. Why did you think I suggested France before we went after the treasure?" Barbossa said.

"I thought you liked the wine. So you knew about him before or after France?"

"After."

"So you wanted to go there to meet up with a girl?"

"Yes."

"Shut up!" I shouted. The two captains looked at me. "I think we're getting a bit off topic. Can someone please explain to me how Barbossa knows my name and somehow gave me my necklace?"

Barbossa looked at me questionably. "Really? I expected you to be smarter than this."

"Why would you expect anything of me? You don't even know me!"

"Here's another hint, your full name is Jason Samuel Serner." Barbossa still had a smug grin on his face.

"And you know my full name because…?" I questioned. Barbossa didn't say anything. I started going through things in my head. He knows my full name, somehow gave me my necklace, and went to France before going after the treasure of Isla de Muerta which I'm guessing was about… my face fell. Eleven years ago. I stared at Barbossa.

"Figure it out yet?" he said smugly. I looked at Jack and then back to Barbossa.

"No, no, no, no no, no. No, no." Stage one, denial. Barbossa gave me a knowing look. "Yes?" I asked. He nodded. I looked around at the rest of the crew then back to Barbossa. "You're my… father?"

The captain smiled. "Aye. Took ye long enough."

"See! I told ya 'e looked familiar!" I heard Twigg shout. A loud smack came soon after.

"Not now, Twigg!" Koehler hissed. Now I felt everyone's eyes locked on me. My head was spinning.

Barbossa must've noticed my uncomfortableness. He turned to Jack and switched the subject of the conversation. "How in the blazes did you get off that island?"

Thankfully, Jack took the bait. "When you marooned me on that godforsaken spit of land you forgot one very important thing, mate. I'm Captain Jack Sparrow." Jack's tone was very matter-o-factly.

"Ah, well I won't be makin' that mistake, again. Gents, you all remember Captain Jack Sparrow?" the crew nodded and laughed. "Kill him." Barbossa finished and walked away. Everyone pointed their guns at Jack.

"The girl's blood didn't work, did it?" Jack said.

Barbossa stopped. "Hold yer fire!" he spun around and walked back to Jack. "You know whose blood we need."

"I know whose blood you need."

"We're goin' back to the ship." Barbossa said. A couple pirates grabbed Jack. One was bald and pot-bellied, the man who got shot, and the other was tall and had a wooden eye. Twigg walked up to me.

"I knew you looked familiar. What did I tell ya, Koehler?"

"Let it go, Twigg. If the captain finds out we saw his son and didn't tell him who knows what he'll do." Koehler hissed. He walked away and indicated for Twigg to follow. "You too, young Barbossa." I flinched but followed the scarred pirate.

At the boats there were a few frantic moments because someone had stolen the oars. Turner. Then two pirates emerged from the water and they each had a bundle of oars. Everyone thought it was completely normal that two people just walked out of the water. Barbossa came up to me. "One of the advantages of being immortal. We need not breathe so we can stay underwater as long as we like." I just nodded. For the first time in years I didn't feel like talking.

Barbossa walked towards the boats and indicated for me to follow. What else could I do? I followed the captain in the longboat. We were about to shove off when I heard a screeching sound coming from the caves. I turned around and saw a black ball of fur shoot across the floor, jumped onto the boat and climbed up Barbossa's shoulder. "Of course we wouldn't leave without ya, ya little rascal." Barbossa said to the monkey. It shrieked happily on his master's shoulder.

I started up at the monkey. When Barbossa looked at me I turned away and sat down. Thankfully, most people had stopped staring at me but it still felt awkward. It was like I was having a staring contest with the bottom of the boat.

We pushed off and strangely enough all the gold on the bottom of the river didn't appeal to me anymore. The cave's ceiling shimmered because of the gold reflecting off the light but I wasn't interested. It takes a lot to get my mind off of gold, especially when it's sitting right in front of me.

"You seem troubled." Barbossa's voice pulled me away from my thoughts.

"Gee, I wonder why? It couldn't be because I had recently found my long lost father." I said in my most sarcastic tone. Okay, being sarcastic isn't the best plan, but what the heck.

"I'm guessing you have a few questions." the captain said, ignoring my comment.

"Just a few." I said still sounding sarcastic. Shut up, you idiot!

Again, Barbossa ignored my comment. "You are allowed one until we get back to the Pearl.

"Just one? Alright then." I thought for a moment. "What's with the monkey?" I finally asked.

Barbossa looked down at me, he seemed confused. "That's the one you're going with? No 'Where have you been for last ten years?' type of thing?"

"Actually, it's been eleven years but at the moment I'm not interested in that. I want to know about the monkey."

"I picked him up a little bit after we marooned Sparrow. He was tormenting one of my crew at the time. He took a liking to me, and I to him."

"What's his name?"

"Ye already asked you're question. No more." Barbossa said.

"Aw, come on. It falls under the same category so technically it's still one question. What's his name?"

Barbossa sighed. "Jack."

"The monkey's name is Jack? I thought you hate Jack?" Barbossa glared at me. "It still falls under the same category." I said.

One of the crew from behind me spoke up. "We named it Jack because the monkey's thievin', hairy rascal."

"So it's an insult to Jack?" Barbossa nodded. I grinned and held in a laugh. Jack, the monkey, not the guy, climbed down to my shoulder. He sat there for the rest of the ride. At first it was a little weird but then turned pleasantly comforting.

"He likes you." Barbossa said. I didn't say anything.

As we came in sight of the Pearl I could see why Jack wanted it back so badly. It was a slender ship, built mainly for speed but still had looked like it could deal some damage in a fight. It was black, as its name suggests, with tattered sails. Despite the slenderness, it was a fairly big ship. Much bigger then the Interceptor. I'm sure at one time it looked less haunted. Probably when Jack was captain, but I won't say that out loud.

It was even more impressive when we got closer. The deck was quite big, with a tall mast right in the middle. Cannons lined the sides, ready to fire.

Barbossa was making his way towards the cabin at the stern of the ship. I just stood there until I heard Barbossa's voice: "Ya comin', lad?"

"Um, aye." I said, making my way towards the cabin. The cabin was also impressive. In the middle was a big table decorated with a big bowl full of apples. Hanging from the ceiling, was some sort of perch. The monkey immediately sprung off of my shoulder towards it.

I nodded at the perch. "Nice touch."

"Thank you." Barbossa said. He was sitting down at the table. "We have a few minutes before Sparrow joins us, so ask away."

"Any question?" I asked, sitting at the table across from him.

"Not any, if I don't answer, then you'll know not to ask it."

"Okay, my first question was going to be 'Why did you maroon Jack and take the Black Pearl for yourself?' but it's a bit self explanatory. The ship is very impressive."

"Again, thank you."

Now, on to another question! Hmm…" I pondered and sat down across from Barbossa. "How did you get cursed?"

Barbossa looked at me for a moment. "Alright then, did you see the stone chest on Isla de Muerta?" I nodded. "Inside the stone chest is 881 pieces of cursed Aztec gold. Originally there were 882 but the girl took it with her when she escaped. If any mortal removes but a single piece from the stone chest they are cursed for eternity."

"So you and your men took the gold?"

"Aye."

"What is the curse?"

"Yer immortal, but with a price. We can't eat because food turns to ash in our mouths. We can drink but it will not quench our thirst. Worst of all, we can't feel anything. Nothing. Not the spray of the sea or the pain of a blade. Not even the touch of another person. If we are dealt a fatal blow we survive but our features turn to skeleton in the moonlight."

"Skeleton?" I asked having a flashback to the Port Royal prison when Koehler's hand turned skeleton.

"Aye. Walking, undead skeletons." Barbossa confirmed. I shivered and remembered that nightmare I had about walking skeletons. Now that I think of it, the hat the lead skeleton was wearing was the same one as Barbossa's.

"Is that why you didn't come back?" I asked. Barbossa stiffened and sucked in a breath.

"Aye. I didn't want your mother to see me like that. Plus, I was searching for all the Aztec gold we had spent away. Didn't really have the time to go to France. None of the pieces called us there so the crew wasn't interested."

"Wait, did you say the pieces called you? As in you heard a piece of gold?"

"Aye, every time a piece hits the water we can feel it. The wind changes, the current changes, it's a very strange process. It pulls us towards it, almost as if it wants to be found."

"Yeah, that's only slightly creepy. Gold calling you to be brought home, totally normal." I mocked. "That's actually ghost story material. You could write a book." Barbossa laughed. It's weird hearing a man like Barbossa laugh, you just don't expect it. I quickly went onto my next question. "How do you lift the curse?"

"All the scattered pieces must be returned and the blood repaid." he must have seen my confused expression. "All who removed the pieces from the chest must spill their blood on the gold."

"Well that's certainly interesting and slightly unnerving." I said rubbing my hands together.

"Got any more questions?" Barbossa asked.

"A few. First off, how and why did you give me this necklace?" I held up the white and black sea shell accessory. It was fairly tight around my neck so I never saw it unless I looked in a mirror.

"I found it one day and thought it looked nice. When I went back to France I intended to give it to yer mother. When I saw you I changed my mind. I was hoping that someday I would be able to recognize you because of it."

"Did you?"

"Did I what?"

"Recognize me because of the necklace?"

"The necklace is what got me thinkin'. When Sparrow started actin' all knowing I had a feeling it was you. I also slightly recognized your face, although you've definitely changed since I last saw you."

"That's because the last time you saw me was when I was two. I've never taken the necklace off, by the way."

"Really?" Barbossa sounded surprised.

"Yeah, mainly because it's impossible. I don't even know how you got it around my neck in the first place."

Barbossa rolled his eyes. "There's a latch."

"There is?" I asked. Then came a knock at the door.

"Captain, you wanted to see Sparrow?"

"Send him in, Bo'sun." The door opened revealing the big pirate that threw me on the ground and Jack. Bo'sun pushed Jack in the room and closed the door.

"How come you got to keep your weapons?" Jack asked pointing at the swords on my back.

"I'm the captain's son. Need I say more?" I replied smugly. Did I really just say that? Barbossa was smirking at me with a look of accomplishment in his eyes. Jack just glared and turned to Barbossa.

"I have a proposition for you." he began. "How about you give me the Pearl , I temporarily maroon on that island you marooned me on, I get back the medallion, lift the curse for you and then I'll come back and get you, eh?"

"So you plan to leave me on some island with naught but a name and your word and watch you sail away with my ship?" Barbossa asked laughing like it was some joke. I sat quietly at the table, eyeing the bowl of apples.

"No." Jack said. "I expect to leave on some island with absolutely no name at all, watch me sail away on my ship and then I'll shout the name back to you. Savvy?" I made a bold move and decided to take an apple. Reaching my hands across the table I picked a big red one. Mmmm, breakfast.

Barbossa was staring at me. I glanced down and quickly took a bite out of the apple. He turned back to Jack. "That still leaves the problem of me standing on an island with naught but a name and your word is the one I need."

"Out of the two of us, I am the only one that has not committed mutiny. So, therefore, it is my word we'll be trusting." Jack had just taken three apples from the bowl and sat down. "Although, I should thank you." he continued. "If you hadn't marooned me and left me to die, I would have an equal share in that curse same as you." Jack took a bite and put his feet up on the table. "Funny ol' world, ain't it?"

Barbossa nodded, obviously trying to hold in his anger. I stared at the table trying not to laugh. If you laugh at that who knows what Barbossa will do. Looking up I saw he was glaring at me. "Captain," Bo'sun came in. "We've come up on the Interceptor." the monkey shot across the table and out the door.

Barbossa got up and Jack and I followed in suit. On deck I could see the Interceptor in the distance ahead of us. I followed Barbossa up to the helm. He took out his spyglass and peered through it. Jack came up in front of him. "I'm having a thought here, Barbossa. How about you run up a flag of truce, I scurry over to the Interceptor and negotiate the return of your medallion, eh? What say you to that?"

"You see, Jack, that's exactly the kind of thinking that lost you the Pearl in the first place. People are easy to search when they're dead." Dead? I let that sink in. He's going to kill my friends. "Lock him in the brig." Barbossa finished and took the apple away from Jack. He stared at it for a moment before he threw it angrily into the ocean. I hid my half eaten apple behind my back.

The speed we were going at was incredible. I looked up at the tattered sails. "One question." I said.

"Yes?" Barbossa asked.

"How does the ship go so fast with holes in the sails?" Barbossa looked confused and didn't say anything. "You have no idea, do you?" I asked smiling. He just looked ahead and didn't answer. I held in a laugh.

Then I saw something floating in the water. I leaned over the railing to get a better look. The objects were boxes and barrels from the Interceptor. "They're making the ship lighter so they can move faster." I said almost to myself.

Barbossa must've heard me. "Haul on the main brace! Make ready the guns! And run out the sweeps." he ordered that last bit to Bo'sun.

"What are the sweeps?" I asked, turning around.

Barbossa smirked. "You'll see." I turned back to look over the railing. Seconds later I saw the sweeps. They were long wooden poles, like oars, that swept into the water to make the ship go faster. "Nice." I remarked although now I was terrified for my friends. If we caught up to them Barbossa's men will kill them.

Looking back at Barbossa I saw he was stroking the monkey's head. I probably would've laughed had the situation been different.

Turning back to the Interceptor I noticed they were sharply turning towards the Pearl. They dropped anchor? They're fighting? You idiots!

"They're clubhauling!" Barbossa shouted. "Hard to port! Rack the starboard oars!"

We ended up flanking the Interceptor. Everyone was screaming insults and taunting the other side. I saw Gibbs and Will on the quarterdeck. They briefly made eye contact with me before Barbossa gave the command. "Fire!"

The guns went off. Pieces of wood and splinters flew everywhere. I was still standing at the railings of the stern. A cannon ball hit maybe three feet away from me. Barbossa grabbed the back of my shirt and pulled me away. "Um, thanks." I started but the captain was already walking down the stairs to the quarterdeck. I noticed a silver object stuck in the railings. I pulled it out and examined it. It was a fork. They're using silverware as cannon balls. Sighing, I tossed the fork into the water.

"Raise your colors, you bloomin' cockroaches!" I heard Barbossa shout. "Hands, grapnels, at the ready. Prepare to board!"

There was a loud groan coming from the Interceptor. I looked in time to see the navy ship's mast fall onto the Pearl. All the pirates yelled and ran, trying not to get crushed. Barbossa was standing in the middle of it like nothing happened. "Blast all to carcasses, men! Forward clear to the powder magazine and the rest of you, bring me that medallion!"

All the crew started throwing grapnels at the Interceptor. They caught on ropes and made for excellent swinging material. At the moment I was walking down to the quarterdeck.

Just as I came off the last step I saw Jack come up from below. Our eyes met and I quickly looked away, whistling as if I didn't notice him. When I looked back Jack was swinging over to the Interceptor.

The battle seemed to be going in Barbossa's favor. Probably because his men can't die. I swallowed my fear for my friends. I wanted to help them but I couldn't bring myself to go against Barbossa. The man's a bloody git but he's my dad. I can't go against my dad.

I stayed more towards the port of the ship, away from the fighting, and scanned the scene. Looking at the Interceptor I did a double take. Jack was climbing across the mast, which now acted as a bridge between the two ships, chasing the monkey. Hey look, Jack's chasing Jack. The monkey ran up to Barbossa who was waiting to meet the human Jack.

"Why thank ye, Jack." Barbossa said.

"You're welcome." Jack said, smiling.

"Not you. We named the monkey Jack." I stifled a laugh. Jack, the human, smirked. "Gents, our hope is restored!" Barbossa yelled, holding up the medallion. The pirates cheered and began tying up the captured crew of the Interceptor.

How many of you saw that coming and how many were surprised? Please tell me, I want to know what you're thinking. Any suggestions and criticism helps.