Author's Note: Thank goodness! I'm ahead in my writing for this: chapters twenty and twenty-one are finished as well; hopefully now, if I manage to keep ahead, updates will come sooner! Hope you like this chapter, everyone! I hope it's not too long; but the length is kinda countered with chapter twenty-one, which is short. Twenty is lengthy, though. Happy holidays and merry Christmas, y'all!
Chapter Nineteen—The Irritatingly Long Chapter
If there was one thing Jessica Montgomery had learnt as she tagged-along after her heroes, it was that the pirate's life isn't all that she had imagined it to be. She was quickly learning that why it did seem wonderful, it had its downsides.
The storm Jack was dead-set on sailing through was one of those downsides.
Having already gotten seasick on calm waters, it was no surprise that Jessie felt like she was dying in this bad weather; crashing waves, rain, the boat's constant rocking; more waves, more rain, more rocking. She knew that while she had thought it could get no worse than when she was on the boat sailing for Tortuga, it could get worse. And that it had.
She clutched a rope that was tied to something, somewhere, with one hand and the Dauntless' railing with the other, closing her eyes against the nauseating feeling swelling up inside her. Another lurch on the ship, another flip-flop of her stomach, another lean over the railing to spill more of her empty stomach into the sea. Thoroughly miserable, Jessie was only dimly aware of Will's voice shouting over the rain, and Gibbs answering him. The conversation about a compass and a mutiny, about an island and a first mate, about sea turtles and back hair…it all felt like it should sound familiar to Jessie, but fighting the urge to vomit kept her from caring.
Finally, when Jessie was certain her death was near (always was a bit of a drama queen, that one), the rain fell slower and the waves shrunk in size. Jack had steered the ship into a sheltered cove, and it was cruising along smoothly now, as if floating. Jessie moaned her relief and sunk down cross-legged with her back against the rail. She heard Jack address Will: "What the bloody hell happened to her?" Opening her eyes, she saw Will shrug and Jack shake his head.
"Let go the anchor!" the captain cried, and Gibbs repeated the order as the crew scurried to carry it out. Jack approached the railing where Jessie was still sitting in misery, Will at his shoulder. "Young Mr. Turner and I are to go ashore," he said to the crew, and Jessie protested at this, but only silently. She couldn't bring herself to speak, only moan again. On one hand, she didn't want to move at all; on the other, she knew she should be going along, to make certain someone made rescuing Amber their top priority.
But Gibbs was already promising to keep to the code, and Jack and Will were already in the boat. She was left behind.
-o0o-
Pintel held Amber's wrists behind her back, keeping her from moving, keeping her from running. Amber found it more annoying than anything else; after all, where was there to run to, stuck here floating on a little dinghy with the rest of the crew all around her?
Elizabeth sat beside her; arms behind her back just like Amber, only being held by Ragetti instead. Barbossa lifted up her hair and fastened the medallion around her neck silently. He came next to Amber and did the same thing. As the medallion fell upon her breast, feeling heavy and cold, the cursed captain whispered, "It'll all be over soon, Miss Swann." His voice in her ear was not a comforting murmur, but rather made her flinch and turn away. With one last toothy grin, Barbossa gave the signal to begin rowing.
When they were inside the cave, Barbossa took Elizabeth by one hand and Amber by the other, leading them up to stand atop the mound of treasure where set the chest. "For ten years we've been tested and tried," Barbossa began, addressing the men while still holding onto the girls; "and each man and jack here has proved his mettle a hundred times over."
The men cheered. Barbossa waved the arm holding Amber, causing her arm to be jerked up painfully. "And a hundred times again!" The pirates cheered all the louder, and Amber began to look around for Will or Jack, even Jessie, but they were hiding beyond her sight.
"Suffered, I have!" Ragetti said, seeming to snivel, and Barbossa nodded his agreement.
"Punished, we were. The lot of us - disproportionate to our crimes!" He kicked open the top of the chest and stared down at the hundred of medallions, all identical in looks. A shiver went up Amber's spine at the reminder that the one around her neck was just a child's souvenir. "Here it is! The cursed treasure of Cortés himself! Every last piece that has went astray, we have returned—save for these!" He released Amber, who had the sense not to move, and instead pointed the golden dagger at her and Elizabeth's medallions. "881 we found, but despaired of ever finding the lasts." He shook his head, and undid Amber's medallion first and held up in his hand dramatically, causing another cheer.
"And who among has paid the blood sacrifice owed to the Heathen Gods?" The pirates cheered 'us' in unison and in a less important situation Amber would have wondered if maybe they were at some sort of convention or concert. "And whose blood has yet to be paid?"
"HERS!" Elizabeth recoiled at the looks and shouts directed at her. Amber was extremely grateful they wanted nothing more than her medallion from her.
"You know the first thing I'm going to do after the curse is lifted?" Barbossa said more softly than he had been speaking before, almost as if to himself, but he was grinning at Elizabeth as he took off her medallion and held it with Amber's. "Eat a whole bushel of apples." Cackling, he put both necklaces in Elizabeth's palm with the dagger and closed her fingers over them all. "Begun by blood, by blood undone," he said, sounding like he was praying.
Elizabeth gasped in pain as the knife cut across her hand, deep into her skin. But when he did nothing more, she looked up and gaped at Barbossa. "That—that's it?" she asked incredulously.
"Waste not." Barbossa kept her hand balled up in a fist a little longer, letting the blood drip over the two medallions. Then he pried open her hands and let them fall into the chest, shining crimson with the red blood.
"Did it work?"
"I don't feel no different."
"How do we tell?"
The moments passed by, and Amber wanted to take this moment where she was temporarily forgotten and run, but looking around, all she could see were cursed pirates. She had no where to run to. Frustrated, she crossed her arms and waited for Will to come to their rescue, so she could get out of here. Barbossa opened his eyes and aimed his gun at Pintel, and fired. "You're not dead," someone said, disappointed.
Pintel looked offended. "No. He shot me!"
"It didn't work!"
"The curse is still upon us!"
Amber watched as Barbossa picked up and studied the blood-covered medallions, before turning to shake Elizabeth by the shoulders roughly. Amber had to admit, her fearless expression astounded the younger girl. "You, maid!" the pirate shouted, still shaking. "Your father! What was his name? Was your father William Turner?"
"No." The stony-faced, determined girl beside her made Amber grin. She really did like Elizabeth, as it turned out. Barbossa, however, seemed to feel the exact opposite.
"Where's his child? The one who sailed from England eight years ago! The child in whose veins flows the blood of William Turner! Where?" In a sudden burst of anger, he backhanded her and both Elizabeth and the medallions fell back to the water's edge. Amber made to go after the fallen governor's daughter, but Barbossa caught her by the wrist and cocked his head, seemingly deep in thought, watching her.
"And you, maiden?" he asked, "say again your father's name. Are you really a Swann? Could you be William Turner's daughter?"
"Hey now, don't go putting cheesy, over-used fanfiction storylines on me, Barbie," Amber said, trying to squash the painful knots in her stomach. But it didn't work, and soon nervous had her in its grip as much as Barbossa's hand, because the pirates where even now deeply considering their captain's claim.
"She's a bit young, isn't she, captain?" one of the pirates said finally, squinting his eyes at her to as if to get a better guess at her age. "But do you think it's possible it's her?"
"I say we cut both their throats, and spill all the blood, just in case!" The entire crew shouted their agreement, drawing swords and advancing; Amber ducked away, but Barbossa still had her arm in his grasp. But it was just then that the monkey screeched and pointed at the cave exit. Barbossa stared at it for only a second, before whirling to find that Elizabeth was no longer where she had been, and that the medallions were not there.
"The medallions!" he shouted, "she's taken them!" He pushed Amber off to Pintel and Ragetti, each who took one of her arms, and held her still so she couldn't escape like her companion had while their fellow crewmembers searched for the missing oars.
She heard the pirate's shouts as they discovered the recently un-unconscious Jack; heard him call parlay; heard him tell Barbossa about the right blood, but none of it meant anything at all to her. Amber wasn't paying attention anymore. She was barely aware of the pirates' too tight grips on her arms. There was an odd buzzing sound in her ears; she couldn't believe that Elizabeth had gone and that she, Amber, was still here
-o0o-
Back on the Dauntless, Jessie had recovered well enough to walk over and greet Will when he climbed back aboard, who helped Elizabeth up next. "Not more pirates," she said. Jessie grinned.
"More pirates." But Elizabeth didn't respond, because Gibbs had caught her attention.
"Boy, where be Jack?" asked the first mate, who had come up behind Jessie. Elizabeth turned to Will as if seeing him for the first time.
"Jack? Jack Sparrow?"
"He fell behind," the blacksmith said shortly, paying all his attentions to Elizabeth. After a moment, Will let him lead her below deck, and he turned to Jessie.
Jessie had been leaning over the railing, waiting for Amber to appear at any moment. She saw no one else. When she turned to Will, she took in the expression on his face, and her stomach turned over.
He opened his mouth as if to speak, but only sighed and ran a hand through his dark hair. Finally, he said, "Jessie—I'm so sorry. I—" but Jessie interrupted.
"Will, what happened? Where's Amber?"
Will looked thoroughly miserable. "She's there. With them." He spoke a bit louder, not really yelling, but stifling Jessie's attempt at interruption. "And she's all right, as far as I can see. But I couldn't get to her, Jessie, not without anyone seeing me. Barbossa was literally holding her arm. I'm sorry."
Jessie squared her jaw, and nodded. She couldn't be mad at Will; Amber would probably be just fine. Jack was there, and though that really was little comfort, she forced herself to think of it as some. "Yeah," she said, "okay." She forced a smile to convince him she wasn't mad, and Will nodded appreciatively.
"We'll get her back," he promised; "somehow, some way."
"Thank you," Jessie said, and finding nothing more to say, she turned and walked away, so he could go back and help Elizabeth. She found Anamaria at the wheel and decided just to hang around here, since she had nothing else to do.
"What can I do you for, lass?" Anamaria said sharply when Jessie didn't continue on her way; she spared the younger girl just a glance before putting her eyes back on the horizon.
"Why did you leave Jack behind?" Jessie spoke the first thing to come to her mind, even though she didn't really care about getting a response.
Anamaria did answer her though; complete with a scoff at Jessie's oblivion at the ways of pirates. "He fell behind," she said shortly, having no patience for stupid questions. More man than woman, that Anamaria.
"Why didn't you go back for him, or give him time to catch up?"
"Pirate's Code," Anamaria answered, never looking at her. Jessie could almost feel the older woman getting annoyed, but couldn't bring herself to leave. "Any man who falls behind is left behind."
"And you always obey the code?"
"Yes."
"What if I told you they were more like guidelines than actual rules?"
"Then," Ana said, spinning around to look at her for the first time; "I would call you an annoying young lass that doesn't know what she's talking about."
"All right, all right," Jessie said, recoiling a little. She didn't want Ana to be mad at her. "Sorry, goodness, just a question." A moment of silence. "Umm…thanks for earlier, slapping Jack and everything," she said awkwardly.
Anamaria seemed to warm up a little. "My pleasure," she said cheerfully. "I always get a great amount of enjoyment from doing just that."
"You slap him a lot?"
"Just about everytime I see the man." Now Jessie was certain Anamaria was smiling.
"Hmm," she hummed happily. "So…how long have you know him?"
"Me and Sparrow go way back, lass. Far longer than you've even been alive."
"Really? How did you meet him?"
Anamaria seemed far off in a memory for second, but then she snapped out of it. When she did, her cheerfulness had gone, but she didn't sound entirely unfriendly when she told Jessie, "I don't really remember."
"I see," Jessie said, understanding that this was the end of their conversation. She said nothing more and let Anamaria concentrate on the ship. Closing her eyes, grateful for her current lack of seasickness, she thought that at the very least her talk with Ana had pulled her out of her slightly melancholy mood over Amber.
-o0o-
Amber sat, feeling quite forgotten and alone, in a corner of Barbossa's captain' s cabin, watching Jack and Barbossa bicker back and forth; despite the situation she was in, Amber could feel herself smiling. The two pirate captains cracked her up, really they did…and there was also the small matter that this was the closest she had been to Jack since coming here, and she found it all rather mesmerizing. She had always liked the movie heroes that seemed more like Will, but every teenage girl loved Jack Sparrow a little. And so she stared.
"Give me my ship, and I'll give you the name," Jack was saying casually, moving his hands to demonstrate how simple his request was. "I'll drop you off on an island and you'll have your name. I'll have my ship. Everyone's happy, and we'll never have to see each other again." He grinned.
"So you expect to leave me standing on some beach with naught but a name and your word it's the one I need—," Barbossa's lips curled up into a sneer, "—and watch you sail away on my ship?"
"No," Jack Sparrow said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Acknowledged for the first time since they had come in here, Amber was surprised to see Jack staring with fake confusion at her, as if he could not possibly believe Barbossa was this stupid and asking her to confirm it. Amber blinked. Turning back to the other captain Jack said, "I expect to leave you standing on some beach with absolutely no name a'tall, watching you sail away on my ship. Then I'll shout the name back to you. Savvy?"
"But that still leaves us with the problem of me standing on some beach with naught but a name and your word it's the one I need."
"Of the two of us, I am the only who has not committed mutiny. Therefore, my word is the one you'll be trusting."
"He has a point there, Barbie," Amber said, shocked at finding herself relaxed enough to not be scared in Barbossa's presence. Why, she was even making jokes and calling him by a nickname! She wondered if her new feelings of being comfortable came from the fact that even though Barbossa had had her medallion, he had still not disposed of her. And seeing Jack, and knowing the others were near; she was certain she would be okay. It was just a matter of getting back to the Dauntless.
Jack had been sitting in silence, staring down at the apples on Barbossa's table. When he had found one to his liking he leaned back in a chair with it in hand, propping his feet up contentedly. "Although, I suppose I should be thanking you because, in fact, had you not marooned me and left me to die, I would have an equal share in that curse, same as you." He took a bite out of his apple. "Funny ol' world, innit?" With a smug look, he offered the apple to Barbossa, who could only manage a grunt.
Just then, the Bo'Sun appeared in the doorway. "Captain," he said, "we're coming up on the Dauntless." Barbossa and Jack followed him back out, and Amber hopped up and came behind them, not wanting to miss anything. Jack had run out now in front of the other captain, trying to block his view.
"I'm having a thought here, Barbossa," he said hastily. "What say we run up a flag of truce; I scurry over to the Dauntless and I negotiate the return of your medallion, eh? What say you to that?" Jack handed Amber the apple so he could use both hands to speak.
Barbossa sneered. "Now you see, Jack, that's exactly the same attitude that lost you the Pearl. People are easy to search when they're dead." He turned to one of the crewmembers. "Lock him in the brig," he ordered, "and put the girl in there as well." With a look that held both smirk and smile, he said to Amber, not entirely insincerely, "my apologies, miss."
The Bo'Sun took her elbow in his strong grip and dragged her off with Jack, and Amber wondered if her arm would ever be properly in her socket again. They reached the brig and the Bo'Sun threw them both in, non-too-gently, and they stumbled about as he locked the door.
"Apparently there's a leak," Jack said of the water sloshing about his feet. The Bo'Sun just made a face and left them without a word. The pirate turned around to face Amber, who stood looking at him look at her. "So you're the other girl, then?" he said finally.
"I'm the other girl," she replied. "Amber."
"Right," Jack said, and Amber got the distinct feeling he wasn't even listening to her. He had turned back to study the lock. "You caused me to go through an awful lot of annoyances with your little friend following me about, you realize," he said, bending down to check the brig's lock closer.
"Umm…okay," Amber said, having come up with nothing better.
"Anyway," said the pirate, straightening back up and looking at her again. "The more pressing matter is—how the bloody hell do we get out of here?"
-o0o-
It wasn't long after Jessie's conversation with Ana before she saw Elizabeth appear from below deck, her hand freshly bandaged. She came over to stand beside Jessie and Anamaria, and gazed at the crew running around frantically. "What's happening?" she asked.
Anamaria gestured with her head behind them. "The Black Pearl. She's gaining on us."
Elizabeth walked over to look out at the ghostly black ship. "But this is the fastest ship in the Caribbean," she protested.
"You can tell them that after they've caught us."
Jessie sniggered. "You can't outrun the Pearl, Elizabeth. Come on." Elizabeth gazed down at her a moment, then said thoughtfully,
"We're shallower on the draft, right?"
"Aye."
"So can't we lost them amongst the shoals?"
Anamaria considered this, and Jessie envied both women's ability to understand what they were saying. The conversation had lost her before it even began. Finally, Gibbs, who Jessie hadn't even noticed had came up behind them all, spoke up.
"We don't have to outrun them long," he said, "just long enough."
Anamaria nodded. "Lighten the ship, stem to stern!" Jessie again wondered at the meaning of these words. She hated feeling dumb.
"Anything we can afford to lose, see that it's lost!" Gibbs ran off to carry out his own orders, and Jessie jumped to action, relieved—finally an order she can understand and do! She was in the process of shoving numerous barrels and crates over the railing when Will appeared beside her. All four of them—Will, Jessie, Anamaria and Elizabeth—looked off towards the Pearl, and saw that it was still gaining on them.
"It was a good plan," Ana admitted to Elizabeth. "Up till now."
"Gibbs!" Will shouted, attracting the attention of the older man. "We have to make a stand! We must fight! Load the guns!"
"With what?" Anamaria snapped, frowning. They had just thrown everything overboard.
"Anything. Everything. Anything we have left!" Will said, turning to everyone in turn, looking completely in control. Gibbs nodded.
"Load the guns!" he said, "The Pearl is going to luff up on our port quarter. She'll rake us without ever presenting a target!" Once again, Jessie felt lost in her lack of understanding.
"Lower the anchor, on the right side!" Elizabeth said, and everyone seemed to freeze, thinking.
"On the port side," Jessie said quickly, then recoiled. "No, wait, not port…"
"ON THE STARBOARD SIDE!" Elizabeth continued, completely ignoring the young girl making her fool of herself at her side. Jessie growled in frustration.
"It certainly has the element of surprise," said Will, and the others agreed. Except for Ana.
"You're daft, lady!" she accused of Elizabeth, then turned to Jessie and Will. "All of you are!"
"Daft like Jack," Gibbs said appreciatively, and Jessie glowed.
"Go on!" she said, impatiently. "Lower the anchor on the STARBOARD SIDE!" She felt proud of herself when the crew paused in the work. Gibbs shouted again.
"Do it, yeh dogs, or it's you we'll throw into the cannons!" The anchor was lowered, and on Elizabeth's word, Anamaria released her hold on the wheel and watched it spin rapidly about as the ship turned and slowed. Will kept them all steady, and then:
"NOW!"
"FIRE!"
"FIRE ALL!"
Jessie barely managed to throw herself onto the deck as the ships exchanged fire. She covered her head with her hands as one sailed dangerously close to her. She would be no help in this fight; Jessie knew she would never be able to bring herself to squeeze a trigger and let a bullet sail through the air at another person. It wasn't like she was an anti-violence, peace on earth, hold hands and sing "Koom-Bye-Yah" all day kind of girl…it was just the thought of doing something like that herself made her skin crawl.
So she hid, while everyone else shot at each other, and Gibbs shouted over all the noise: "We could use a few more ideas, lass!"
"Your turn," Elizabeth replied.
"We could give use us a devil's dowry!" said Anamaria suddenly, and Jessie couldn't resist the urge to sit up and grin.
"Hey, yeah! Give 'em HER!"
She pointed at Elizabeth, who looked shocked. Will shook his head. "She's not what they're after," he said, and then wore an expression like he'd just been hit over the head with a brick. Jessie laughed, forgetting about the gunfire and cannons. Being here was supposed to be fun, after all.
"The medallions!" Elizabeth said in a desperate whisper, and Will nodded. He'd just remembered too. Quickly, he jumped to his feet.
"Stay here," he told Elizabeth, because she was being useful in the battle. Jessie, who was doing nothing, however, was chosen to come along. "We have to find those medallions!" he said, grabbing her wrist and dragging her away below deck.
"No, no," Jessie was saying even as they disappeared below deck. "No, the door—the mast—no, don't!" But it was too late. Will hadn't even released his grip on her before a large cannonball hit the mast and caused it to crash down on top of the trap door they had just closed above their heads.
"Jessie, look for the medallions," Will ordered, pushing on the door; "I'll get this open." Jessie did as instructed, looking around for medallions that weren't there—bloody monkey—until Elizabeth's voice could be heard above them. She came to help Will push at the door, and Elizabeth pulled, but the thing wasn't moving. Before any other plan of action could be taken, Elizabeth screamed, and Will shouted after her as she was dragged away by a couple of pirates.
"Well," said Jessie, frustrated, "this just sucks, doesn't it?"
-o0o-
Jack wasn't sharing the tiny little hole that gave a view of the battle outside. Amber was left to just stand and splash her feet in the water, until suddenly Jack made some sort of sound and jumped out the way, taking Amber down with him. A cannonball rushed past their heads.
"Stop blowin' holes in my ship!" Jack shouted angrily, at no one in particular, and Amber stood up and pushed open the door of the brig that had had the lock blown of it, turning back around to face Jack with a smirk.
"You comin' or not?" she asked sassily, and the pirate straightened up and raced ahead of her up the stairs leading above deck. When they had made it to the very heart of the battle, Jack ran off his own way and Amber stood around, wandering where to go next. Jessie had to be here somewhere on the Dauntless, but where?
But then she caught site of Barbossa watching her. Without even being grabbed or dragged there, Amber came to stand by him, sighing, so he would see that there was no need for someone to constantly be holding her. She would be a good little captive.
"A, hello, Miss—oh, but it's not Swann, is it?" he smirked at her, petting Jack the monkey and holding the two medallions in his hand. Amber wondered how he knew. As if reading her mind, he said, "seems someone let slip something about Elizabeth Swann, aye, Miss Amber? You're very fortunate you can still be kept around just to look at."
Having grown so familiar around Barbossa, Amber didn't think twice about sticking her tongue at him. "Shut up, Barbie," she said.
"Well, you've arrived just in time to watch our little show, at any rate," the pirate captain said, and that was when she noticed that the pirates on the Pearl had captured the other ship's crew and was even now tying them to the mast. Jack had come just now to stand behind her and Barbossa; the pirate even had the chance to make it to the other ship. God, she had missed a lot.
"If any of you even so much as thinks the world 'parlay', I'll have your guts for garters!" Pintel was threatening, and Amber was waiting for Jessie's voice to start screaming the word. But no one said a thing, and at a closer look Amber saw that her friend was not even there.
"Great," Amber mumbled, sighing once more, but just then—
BOOM!
She was caught slightly off guard by the sudden explosion of the Dauntless, but managed not to jump in the air in favour of watching a slightly demented looking Elizabeth shout at Barbossa.
"Welcome back, Miss," he said cheekily. "You took advantage of our hospitality last time. It's only fair now you return the favour." As Elizabeth continued to scream at him, Amber cocked her head.
"Oh, hello, Lizzie," Amber said dryly, forgetting for the moment that she liked the older girl now. "I'm fine, by the way. Thanks for rescuing me, too. I'm really glad you didn't leave me with these people alone." But Elizabeth wasn't paying attention.
-o0o-
"Hold your breath!" Will shouted loudly over the rushing of water. "We're going under!" Jessie mimicked him, inhaling deeply and squeezing her eyes shut against the salt water. She went completely underwater, and for a split second she thought she felt the oddest sensation against her chest, where the medallion rested on its chain.
But just then the Dauntless had exploded, and the vibrations from that rocked the water, pushing the feeling from her mind. Remembering the explosion from her countless hours of watching the movie, she wondered how it was possible she and Will would survive this.
But it was all over before it had seemed to begin, and with one violent kick and mad surge for the surface, Jessie came up out of the water, gasping, and saw out of the corner of the eye Will appearing beside her.
"You all right?" he panted, and Jessie nodded. "Let's go." Jessie was a good swimmer, and so she managed to keep pace with Will all the way to the Dauntless. He climbed up the side of the ship first, holding out his hand to help her climb up beside him. The pirates had noticed them by now, and Will fixed them all with a stony stare.
"Barbossa," he said coldly, "she goes free." He hopped down on the actual deck, and grabbed a pistol. Jessie spotted Jack in amongst the crew and—was it? Yes. Amber. As Will repeated his demand a second time, Jessie ran quickly to move in beside Amber and Jack. Barbossa paid no attention to her, speaking only to Will.
"Amber!"
"Jessie!"
Jack made a purposely loud noise of disgust as the girls started talking in hushed whispers beside him, exchanging happy hellos, each trying to tell their own adventures of the story in the few seconds they had. The pirate made a point in moving a few steps away, but the girls were too focused on their conversations to notice what he was doing.
Amber wanted badly to tell Jessie the secret about her medallion, the chain of which she could see still about her neck, the actual medallion hidden beneath her shirt. But she didn't know how to explain everything she had learned, especially when cursed pirates surrounded them. Finally, Amber settled for—
"Hey, Jess, you know that thing you're wearing on your neck?"
A confused pause. "Yeah..."
"It's really important to what's…uh…happening, okay?"
"What do you mean?" Jessie asked, still looking confused, her hand flying up her chest to pull out the medallion. Amber grabbed her wrist.
"No!" she hissed. "Don't let anyone see it. I think it's…a missing piece."
"Amber, I still don't under—"
"My name is Will Turner. My father was Bootstrap Bill Turner! His blood runs in my veins." Jessie was interrupted then by Will's declaration, but Amber was done, anyway. She was too afraid of being overheard to say anymore.
"He's the spitting image of old Bootstrap Bill come back to haunt us!" Ragetti said suddenly, pointing at Will.
"You know, I don't really think they favour each other at all." Jessie let the confusing conversation with Amber slip from her memory as she came to stand beside Jack, Amber at her other side.
Jack looked sideways at her. "How would you even know that?"
"Just a thought," Amber replied, because she was better at thinking on her feet than her friend and she knew it; "neither of us have ever really met Bootstrap."
Jack just shook his head, because he found the conversation between Will and Barbossa much more interesting. "Name your terms, Mr. Turner," Barbossa said harshly.
"Elizabeth goes free!" Will said immediately.
"Yes, we know that one," Barbossa replied in a rather bored tone, "anything else?"
Will's eyes looked around the ship, and stopped on the two teenage girls, standing side by side. Both wore a 'what about me' expression. "And the girls," he said, "they stay safe. They go free."
"Of course."
"And the crew too!" Will had noticed Jack's mad gesturing. "The crew not to be harmed." And though Jack was still gesturing and Jessie was shaking her head and Amber was sighing, Will said no more. Barbossa stepped forward, grinning.
"Agreed."
-o0o-
A few minutes later, the Dauntless' crew was in the brig, Will's hands were tied, the girls were once again gripped much to tightly than is comfortable, Jack was surrounded by pirates that what him dead, and Elizabeth was being poked and prodded towards the gangplank.
"Barbossa, you lying bastard!" Will shouted angrily, forcing his way through the crowd to glare at him. "You swore she'd go free."
"Don't dare impugn me honour, boy! I swore she'd go free," Barbossa said, "but it was you who failed to specify when or where." The old captain laughed at the younger man. "Those it does seem a shame to lose something so fine, don't it lads?"
"Aye," came all the replies, and Barbossa took a moment to watch Will being gagged before he turned to Elizabeth. "So I'll be having that dress back before yeh go."
Jessie nudged Amber as well as she could with her shoulder, seeing as how the pirates held her arms. When Amber looked at her, Jessie gestured with her head at Will, whose eyes were even now growing so wide they surpassed Elijah Wood's in size.
Elizabeth glared and removed the dress, tossing it at him with as much dignity as she could muster. "It goes with your black heart," she said coldly. She then faced back the right way on the plank. There she stood, gathering her courage, until one of the pirates lost patience and shook the plank; Elizabeth fell with a shriek.
Barbossa laughed, and the turned to face the girls. "You, lass," he said to Jessie, "how well do you swim?"
Jessie looked confused. "Pretty good, I th—"
"Off you go, then!" The men holding her let go of her arms, and gave her a none too gentle shove in the direction of the plank. Jessie found that balancing on the edge felt like standing on a diving board, and she was grateful that she didn't have a fear of heights. She spared one look at Amber before she jumped.
"What about her?" she asked, concerned.
Barbossa laughed that malicious laugh. "Oh, I've grown quite fond of your young friend, here. She stays."
"But—"
"I gave my word she'd not be harmed, and thus she will not be. But she stays on board. Now off with you, lass!" But despite the harshness of Barbossa's voice, Jessie didn't jump until Amber had given her a 'what can I do look' and nodded that she would be fine. Jessie nodded back and dove off.
Once underwater, Jessie felt the same tingle from her medallion that she had felt during the explosion, but didn't pay it any more mind when she resurfaced.
Elizabeth was floating just beside her, looking worried. "He's still got Amber and Will," she said.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Jessie said, her fear showing as anger. Up on the deck, they could still hear Barbossa's voice talking to Jack, and a moment later his effects, and then the pirate himself, fell into the water. He came up sputtering and tossed his effects to Jessie, which proved very awkward because his hands were tied and she wasn't very coordinated.
"Hold those," he growled, not angry with her, but just angry in general. Understandable, considering what had happened. Jessie knew he'd be his same old safe when they got to the island and he had his rum.
Jack freed himself from the bonds with his teeth, and grabbed the effects from the teenage girl's hands. He told her, "You better not have been lying, lass, when you said you could swim," then to Elizabeth, "and you? Can you swim well?"
"Well enough," said Elizabeth.
"Keep up, then," said the pirate shortly, and all three began the long swim towards the island in the distance.