thank you libby

On with the chapter

CHAPTER 11 THE ISLAND

Jack and I are wading out of the water. Jack's pulling some rope that must have been tied around his wrists. I'm attaching my sword back to myself. I take my pistol out, throwing it onto the sand, and collapse next to it.

"That's the second time I've had to watch that man sail away with my ship after watching you be raped," Jack says.

"That's the second time I've been raped by that man and then watched him sail away with my ship" I snarl at Jack.

He winces, before sitting down next to me and wrapping an arm around my shoulders, pulling me to him.

"I'm going for a walk," Elizabeth announces. I had forgotten she was here. She sets off.

As I'm leaning into Jack's shirt, he holds me and then moves his hand down to my waist to make himself comfortable. He hits a cut and a bruise. I wince in pain and he pulls away, instantly apologising. Lifting my shirt, I notice fresh blood bubbling at the surface of the cut. I move toward the sea, but I misjudge what should have been a small step, as the sand shifts beneath my feet and causes my step to be bigger than average. I cry out as a pain between my legs is triggered and sink into the sand. I feel so damn weak. I hate this. Jack rushes over to see how hurt I am.

"I hate this, this feeling of being weak. I hate panicking when I see him," I cry out in desperation.

"Let it go, Jazzy. Let it out," he whispers.

"No one knows how it feels to panic when you see a man, but to not fear him when he approaches you. How he makes you feel weak and you can do nothing about it .I hate it! God damn it, I hate it! I hate how he taunted me. I hate how he used me, broke my body into pieces in front of you. How he's taken my ship, my virginity, my chance to say yes to marriage!" I yell at nothing.

Jack stands, lifts me bridal style, and walks toward the sea. Placing me down in the water, he begins to rinse my wounds out with seawater as I do the same. Elizabeth is walking back along the beach as we come in with the tide.

"It's not very big, is it?" I comment as Jack walks toward the rum cache. I sit in the sand and check my pistol. Elizabeth follows Jack.

"But you were marooned on this island before, weren't you? So we can escape in the same way you did then!" She yells at him.

"To what point and purpose, young missy? The Black Pearl is gone and, unless you have a rudder and a lot of sails hidden in that bodice – unlikely - young Mr. Turner will be dead long before you can reach him," Jack yells back at her.

"But you're Captain Jack Sparrow and Jasmine Pearl! You vanished from under the eyes of seven agents of the East India Company! You sacked Nassau Port without even firing a shot! Are you the pirates I've read about or not? How did you escape last time?" She shouts at Jack, and the last part of it is directed at me.

"Last time…we were here a grand total of three days, all right? Last time…the rumrunners used this island as a cache. They came by, and we were able to barter a passage off. From the looks of things, they've long been out of business. Probably…have your bloody friend Norrington to thank for that," Jack tells her.

"So that's it, then? That's the secret grand adventure of the infamous Jack Sparrow and Jasmine Pearl? You spent three days lying on a beach, drinking rum?!" Elizabeth yells, showing her disgust.

"Welcome to the Caribbean, love," Jack says, handing her a bottle of rum and throwing me mine before sitting next to me.

She runs after him and comes to stand in front of us.

"So is there any truth to the other stories?" she asks.

"Truth," Jack repeats, before pulling me to my feet.

Lifting his shirt sleeve as he stands, he shows her his pirate's brand. Pulling that down, he shows her his scarred flesh on the other arm and then, pulling his shirt down at the top slightly, he shows her his two shot wounds. I understand what he's trying to get across and push my sleeve up, showing my 'P', before raising my shirt so my stomach is on show. She sees my freshly bruised flesh. Showing her my shoulder, she sees a shot wound-one that almost killed me but thankfully didn't-and then, lifting my sleeve and showing her my arm, she sees the long scar that travels up my vein, turning my vein red from where my arm was slashed with a poisoned sword.

"No truth at all," I say. Shrugging my shirt back to normal, I walk into the shade after uncorking my rum.

"Are those bruises across your stomach from Barbossa? Why would he do that?" she asks after me.

"It's what you get for struggling," I reply in a monotone voice.

Sitting down and laying flat on my back, I prop myself up with my elbows. I drink the rum and and just sit relaxing, as Jack and Elizabeth build a fire. Jack wobbles over to me with another bottle of rum whilst placing a kiss, delicate for someone who is drunk, onto my lips, before he wanders off back to Elizabeth. I sigh before uncorking my rum and go to tip it, then just corking it and lying back to watch the stars. I close my eyes for a minute to relax.

My eyes shoot open and I look into Jack's face, taking deep gasping breaths.

"Jaz? Jaz, love, you're ok. You're alright. He's not here," Jack informs me.

"Dream, just a dream," I break out in short sharp breaths.

Just a dream where I was back with Barbossa, and he stabbed Jack in the heart. Just a dream.

"Well, I'm here now, so go back to sleep," he mumbles, laying down in the sand.

After placing a kiss on my forehead, I settle into his arms as they wrap around me, minding all my cuts and bruises, and close my eyes again.

I wake up to the smell of...Smoke. Jack's just doing the same, only now he's realised something and jumps up, pulling me with him. I hiss in pain as one of my more deeper cuts reopens, as well as the ones along my wrists where Barbossa forced them up so I couldn't hit him.

"What are you doing? You've burnt all the food, the shade, the rum!" he yells, chasing Elizabeth as she moves.

"Yes, the rum is gone," she confirms.

"Why is rum gone?" Jack cries, and I can't help but agree. Rum numbs pain and memories.

Elizabeth flings round to face him. "One, because it is a vile drink that turns even the most respectable men and women into complete scoundrels. Two, that signal is over a thousand feet high. The entire Royal Navy is out looking for me-do you really think there isn't the slightest chance they won't see it?"

"But why is the rum gone?" Jack cries.

She turns and plonks herself onto the sand. "Just wait, Captain Sparrow. Give it an hour or two, and you will see white sails on the horizon."

Jack takes out his pistol and points it at her, before thinking better of it and storming off.

"Must have been terrible for you, Jack, must have been terrible-well, it bloody is now!" Jack is yelling at the end and turns to shout back down the beach. He ends up shouting in my face, and I back up in shock.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry! Jazzy, I didn't mean it! Sorry, sorry!" Jack starts.

"Jack, it's fine. Just don't shock me like that again," I say.

I lift my hand and hold the bottle of rum that I had in my hand from last night up to his face.

"You...Jazzy, I love you," he cries, lifting me up and spinning me round.

My cuts throb and I wince. He quickly places me down on the sand, this time so I'm sitting, before taking the bottle from me and drinking the bottle down at once.

"They'll be no living with her after this," Jack says, looking out to sea, where I notice the white sails and many longboats coming ashore.

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"But we've got to save Will!" Elizabeth cries on the deck of the Dauntless.

"No! You're safe now. We will return to Port Royal immediately, not go gallivanting after pirates!" Governor Swann tells Elizabeth.

"Then we condemn him to death!" She screams at her father.

"The boy's fate is regrettable, but, then, so was his decision to engage in piracy." Governor swann tries to make her see his reasoning. It's not working.

"To rescue me! To prevent anything from happening to me," Elizabeth cries out.

"If I may be so bold as to inject my professional opinion. The Pearl was listing near to scuppers after the battle. It's very unlikely she'll be able to make good time. Think about it. The Black Pearl . The last real pirate threat in the Caribbean, mate. How can you pass that up?" Jack says.

My eyes widen and I look at him. He just smirks as Norrington turns to glare.I quickly elbow Jack in the stomach, making him lose his smirk and glare at me.

"By remembering that I serve others, Mr. Sparrow, not only myself," Norrington tells us both, before turning around and walking toward the helm.

Elizabeth in one last leap of desperation comes out with, "Commodore, I beg you, please do this. For me. As a wedding gift."

She follows the commodore a little. I watch as he turns in shock. His eyes light up in happiness while mine widen in shock-didn't she love the whelp?

"Elizabeth, are you accepting the Commodore's proposal?" Her father asks.

"I am," she declares, though something in her voice that suggests her heart isn't with her in this decision.

"A wedding! I love weddings-drinks all around...I know, clap 'em in irons, right?" Jack exclaims, before extending his hands for the irons.

"Mr. Sparrow, you will accompany these fine men to the helm and provide us with the bearing to Isla de Muerta . You will then spend the rest of the voyage contemplating all possible meanings of the phrase "silent as the grave." Do I make myself clear?" Norrington orders Jack.

"Inescapably clear," Jack says, before moving toward the helm to give him directions.

Norrington turns to me and does a double take.

"Miss Pearl, what happened? You look like..." He trails off.

"Hell?" I supply.

"Follow me, Miss Pearl," the commodore commands, walking toward his cabin.

I hesitate, looking towards Jack. He gives a slight nod, so I follow the commodore, who is now rummaging through a draw.

"Elizabeth spoke to me in the longboat. She said that you were different to a normal pirate, that you had a hate for things a pirate would do, and that you have a spirit like no other. According to her, you can be beaten down yet you will still hold your head high," Norrington tells me softly, turning around, obviously not finding what he needed.

"Is it such a bad thing for me to be different to a normal pirate?" I comment lightly.

"She told me.. she told me what you did to stop that vile man and his crew" Norrington accuses harshly.

"Are you saying I shouldn't have done what I did? Would you rather she had been raped?" I snarl back, rage filling me.

Commodore flinches back as he notices that my eyes seem to darken. I circle him.

"Did you want to see her left on that island? Broken, beaten, and raped? Remains of her blood covering her body, her lips red and split, bruises covering every inch of flesh Barbossa could get hold of? Did you want to see her sobbing, shaking in fear, flinching and screaming at every man's touch? Did you want to see her put in a hospital ward till she gets her mind back together?" I snap angrily and stop, standing in front of him.

"Is this what you wanted to see?" I say, lifting my shirt so he sees the black, blue and purple bruises covering my stomach. Putting my shirt down, I move it off my shoulder, letting him see the cut in my flesh, before lifting my wrists and showing him every cut along them from Barbossa's nails.

"Is that what you wanted for her?" I ask.

"No," he whispers in defeat.

"Good, I did what I did for a reason," I say softly, staring him in the eyes and hoping to get my point across.

"Why?" he asks me hoarsely, as if his voice hadn't been used.

"Because my body could take it, my mind could deal with it in a five minute gap. Because it could have been both me and Elizabeth, but I kept the attention off her," I tell him, before walking to the door.

His hand locks onto my own.

"Tha...thank you," he tells me. I simply nod and he drops his hand and lets me walk out onto deck to Jack.