Author's Note: For those of you who read both of my stories, I know that technically I should be updating Sweeney and not Pirates but considering the length of the last update for both stories, this one deserved a little more love ^.^ I hope there aren't any hardcore Lizzy lovers reading this because you're about to get burned (sorry I really couldn't resist) and last but not least, try not to be too hard on poor ol' James, he had to stay true to the original plot or there'd be no third movie but hopefully I still made him likeable
I'm sorry if this chapter isn't very well written but there's just so much going on in these scenes that it gets to be a hassle trying to keep them all in order, hopefully it's not too bad though.
Thank-yous go out to: gothicluver13 , xBelekinax , , QueenOfWeird1995 , katilia , and .TwiBoyz for the awesome reviews that made me smile and massive thanks as always to ThePurpleness who helped me figure out how I wanted this chapter to go (even though she didn't realize it ;P)
Alina came back on deck with her palm now bandaged and climbed into the waiting dinghy alongside Brandi and James, pointedly ignoring Jack and a sheepish looking Elizabeth. She managed to avoid her inner turmoil for the brief amount of time it took Pintel and Ragetti to row to shore as they argued over the pronunciation of the beast called Kraken. Ragetti evidently won the argument in the end claiming, "It's a mythological creature, I can calls it what I wants." Such a shame it couldn't stay a myth, thought Alina, a myth wouldn't be chasing us to the bloody ends of the earth!
Upon reaching the shore Jack turned to the duo and muttered, "Guard the boat, mind the tide, don't touch my dirt." He then turned to follow Elizabeth who had already gone off in the direction the arrow had pointed her to. Alina found a small sand hill to sit down on while she watched everyone else follow Elizabeth around and around in circles and was soon joined by Brandi who had realized Elizabeth was quite clueless. Jack chose to stand and watch and James finally gave up and leaned on his shovel as he watched Elizabeth pace once again the diameter of her circle.
"This doesn't work!" She huffed angrily after looking up at Jack, "And it certainly doesn't show you what you want most." She sat down in a tiff much like a spoiled brat. Alina rolled her eyes as she realized the reason Elizabeth so loathed the compass was simply because she could not come to her own terms and admit to anyone that she harbored feelings for the stunningly obtuse pirate captain.
"Yes it does." Jack replied after taking look for himself, "You're sitting on it."
"Beg pardon?" She asked looking at him in confusion, no doubt her mind had been wandering to what the compass was truly pointing at.
"Move." Jack told her, flicking his hands in a 'shooing' motion and signaling James to start digging. Alina took pity on the man, snatched Jack's shovel, knowing he wouldn't be using it to help, and moved to help James dig. It wasn't long before James' shovel hit something hard producing a significant thunk. After helping to heave it out, Jack snatched the shovel back and whacked at the lock to find the chest contained dried out roses and various letters. Jack pocked his arm through until he came upon a smaller chest hidden under the parchments and all pressed their ears closer in awe as a faint yet distinct 'thump, thump, thump' could be heard from within.
"It's real." Elizabeth gasped.
"You actually were telling the truth." James looked at him with an expression of disbelief.
"I do that quite a lot." Jack replied, slightly offended at the mark on his character, "Yet people are always surprised." Alina rolled her eyes once more.
"With good reason!" A voice called from behind them all.
Elizabeth turned to find her fiancé, "Will!" She ran into his waiting arms and Alina looked up at his sheepishly yet happily. Will gave her a brief nod accompanied with a look that indicated that though he was not okay with her siding with her friend, he understood her actions and wanted to talk later. "Thank goodness you're alright, I came to find you!" She gushed as she pressed her lips to his.
"Yea sure, that's what she came here for." Brandi muttered under her breath, "Could've fooled me ya half-brained twit."
Alina turned to James to see his face fall and moved to rest a reassuring hand on his shoulder just as Jack's eyes slid from Lizzy and Will to them. He seemed to glare for a moment before interrupting the lovers' beautiful moment, "How did you get here?"
"Sea turtles, mate." Will replied with a knowing smirk, "A pair of them strapped to my feet."
"Not so easy is it?" Jack responded with an 'I-told-you-so' grin on his face. Will seemed to hesitate a moment before realizing that in throwing a barb at Jack, he had woven himself into the same story thread as the illustrious pirate man.
He saved face quickly however as he answered, "But I do owe you thanks, Jack."
"You do?"
"After you tricked me onto that ship to square you debt with Jones," He glared as Jack's face turned guilty at having been caught.
"What?" Elizabeth interrupted.
"What?" Jack replied in the same manner, attempting to look aghast at the suggestion.
"I was reunited with my father." Will finished letting Jack no it was no use to pretend.
"You're welcome then." He smiled.
"Everything you said to me," Elizabeth seethed, appalled that she had been swayed by him, "every word was a lie?!"
James, Alina, and Brandi all shared skeptical looks at her exclamation. They all knew Elizabeth was not angry at Jack. It is after all pointless to blame the scorpion for stinging you, the blame lies in the one stupid enough to stay close enough to be stung. "Pretty much." Jack replied, "Time and tide love." Will moved forward and stooped down next to the chest while pulling out an old-looking dagger, "Oi, what're ya doing?" Jack asked moving his hand to his sword.
"I'm going to kill Jones." Will replied matter-of-factly.
"Can't let you do that William." Jack answered back drawing his sword and positioning it by his neck, "Cause if Jones is dead, who's to call his terrible beastie off the hunt, eh?" Will stood on shakey legs, "Now, if you please, the key."
As Will turned to face him, he drew Elizabeth's sword claiming, "I keep the promises I keep Jack. I intend to free my father and I hope you're here to see it."
"Oh? And what about Alina? D'you intend to condemn her as well? I call the giant bugger off the hunt and she walks free too. You kill Jones and well, we're both doomed."
Will turned to Alina, stunned at this new revelation but she merely glared at Jack replying, "I understand the consequences of my actions and I want no part in this, should I die at the mercy of the sea then so be it. The only ones here to mourn me are the ones that have already witnessed me die at the hands of a man I thought I knew." Jack's face turned solemn as he turned back to Will who was now all set to fight.
James chose now to intervene, "I can't let you do that either. So sorry."
"I knew you'd warm up to me." Jack smiled stupidly.
"Lord Beckett desires the contents of that chest. I deliver it, I get my life back. And I'm sure I could put in a nice word for Miss Carter." He smirked.
"Ah, the dark side of ambition."
"Oh, I prefer to see it as the promise of redemption." He gave a satisfied grin as he thought of where he might have heard that before, and all three began a duel to end all duels. As Elizabeth stormed after them in a rage yelling at the top of her lungs and making an utter fool out of herself, Alina and Brandi went for a little walk, deciding that the outcome of the battle was not entirely important.
"Wait a moment." Alina said to Brandi and walked up to Elizabeth who had at this point, pretended to faint. "Lizzy." Alina spoke deceptively sweetly.
"Alina! Oh thank goodness now perhaps you can talk some sense into-" She was abruptly cut off by Alina's hand making quick progress across her cheek. Once she had regained her wits she turned to Alina's stoic face.
"Save your words Elizabeth, they'll do no good with me. If you ever, come anywhere near Jack again the same way you did on the ship just then, I swear by Davy Jones himself, even if I have to come back from death, I will deal you more than a tight slap." She seethed before turning and rejoining Brandi, "Shall we?"
Brandi's face was a mix of shock and joy, "You couldn't have done that to bird-brain too?" She laughed.
"Oh believe you me, I'm not anywhere near done with him." Alina smirked as they made their way into the forest. "It's times like this that I miss the monkey." She chuckled.
"Monkey?"
"We had a monkey named Jack on the ship, you didn't really get to meet him before we gave him off to Tia Dalma. He belonged to an old friend of mine, Hector Barbossa. A man who lost himself somewhere along the way and ended up dead. The monkey only ever seemed to like him and me. Anyone else and he'd go berserk. Although he seemed to like some strange fellow at Tia's shack when we gave him away." Alina slowly began to make connections in her mind. Could he really be alive?
"Too bad he's not still alive, I could've changed him." Brandi smirked, unknowingly interrupting Alina's train of thought.
Alina chuckled, "I don't doubt you would, you seem like the kind of woman he would need in his life. If you two ever got the chance to meet who knows? Maybe sparks would fly."
"Oh well, I suppose we'll never know. Hey, wouldn't it be better to go back to the ship and wait? Who's to say they won't leave without us?" Brandi asked, interrupting Alina's train of thought.
"First of all, going back to the ship would be the worst thing we could do as the Kraken is still after me, secondly there's no way Jack would leave without me he already knows he's on thin ice and leaving me here won't solve anything as I'd find a way to make him pay and thirdly, we'll be fine. I know them all by now."
"Really?" Brandi replied disbelievingly, "Then pray tell, what will happen?"
"Well at this point Jack has probably done something incredibly stupid and Will will probably make up for it in his own favor while throwing some witty remark at James and unknowingly setting off a chain of events that will lead to their unfortunate demise. Jack will work himself out of trouble with his confusing words only to make another blundering mistake leaving the winner to be anyone's guess." Not a moment had passed from Alina's last word before a giant, out-of-use water wheel came rolling by with the three in the middle dueling it out over the key.
"Like I said." Alina said, gesturing to the trio and wondering how they were still standing.
"Okay then, oh wise one, what about the unfortunate demise thing?" Brandi responded crossing her arms and cocking her brow. Just then, the sounds of rustling leaves and deep grunts could be heard as a hoard of mutated men made themselves known. "First the voodoo priestess and now this?! Next time I'm staying on the bloody boat!" Brandi screamed before following Alina's example and running as fast as she could in the opposite direction. They made it to the shore just in time to see the wheel spin out into the water and Will and James climb out only to fall splat into the water.
"I give that landing a five at best." Brandi joked before joining Alina back at the dinghy.
"Pull a sword and start fighting the buggers!" Alina yelled to her as everyone else seemed to group by the dinghy and the chest inside. Will had been knocked unconscious by Jack.
"We're not getting out of this." Elizabeth gasped.
"Not with the chest." James replied taking it out, "Into the boat." He ordered.
"You're mad!" Elizabeth cried.
"James don't." Alina begged.
"Don't wait for me and I promise to find a way to get you out." He told her before running off into the forest.
"James!" Alina yelled making to follow him before Jack wrapped his arm around her waist and hoisted her onto his shoulder, "I say we respect his final wish!" He said climbing into the boat with a struggling Alina.
"Aye!" Pintel replied.
"Jack let me go!" Alina struggled looking to Brandi for help.
"Alina if you follow him you're both dead, at least this way his sacrifice wasn't in vain." She replied.
Alina sighed and wiped a tear from her eye as they made their way back to the Pearl.
"What happened to the commodore?" Mr. Gibbs asked once they had all returned Alina turned and left for Jack's cabin.
"He fell behind." Jack replied with a satisfied smirk before following Alina with his jar of dirt clutched to his chest.
"My prayers be with him. Well! Best not wallow in our grief! The bright side is that you're both back and made it off free and clear." He said to his captain's turned back.
Down in the cabin, Alina was pacing and Jack was trying to raise the courage to walk in. "I know you're out there you might as well come in."
"Ali-"
"Stop." She interrupted him, "Jack you and I both know that you can apologize a million times over and it's not going to change the fact that you'll always be a womanizing man-whore with no regard to emotional feelings what-so-ever. We also both know that I'm quite stupid as neither one of us have discussed relations and until that's all been said and done I can't expect you to automatically understand but Elizabeth Jack?! Really? You can have any whore in Tortuga but you have to go for the one that would hurt me the most!"
"Ali please listen to me." Jack replied reaching a hand out and turning her to face him. Her head lowered to look at the floorboards between them and he placed a hand under her chin so their eyes could meet, "I never meant to hurt you so much, I realize we didn't talk 'bout how we felt and what was going on 'tween the two of us but that was no excuse. Merlot happened to remind me that I don't quite deserve a friend like you much less a lover." He chuckled, "Ali, if you could find it in yer heart to forgive me just this once, well ye know me and promises but I can damn well make a solid effort to never hurt you again."
Alina looked at him lovingly and tried to smile, "Alright Jack. I suppose I can live with that for now. I forgive you." Jack stepped closer and wrapped his arm tighter around her waist, drawing her as close to him as possible, he moved to kiss her but she turned her head from him and placed her fingers to his lips, effectively stopping him but making no effort to move away from his embrace. "Jack I said I forgive you for what you did. But that doesn't mean I can forget so easily."
"Allow me to ease yer burden love." He replied before forcefully pushing his lips onto hers. It took less than a second before she was responding just as forcefully. Even if she still couldn't say the words to him, she felt them strongly enough. She loved him with her whole heart and soul, and it was that moment that she realized how everything was going to turn out. Unlike the popular fairy tales, things were going to get very, very bad. Before she and Jack could ever be together, they would have to be torn apart. For when she chose heart, her body would die. She now knew why she wasn't ready to tell him the truth. It was more than just nerves.
She was physically bound.
Jack would not know the truth, until the last possible moment they had together on this plane.
Hit the pretty green button, you know you want to ^.^