Haven't really been working on this fanfic lately thus the long break between updates, I'll start writing in it more, here you go..
Chapter 5
Once Jessica was aboard the Pearl she saw the Interceptor's crew and Elizabeth tied to the mast. Jessica was brought to Barbossa, he grabbed her arms tightly, forcing her to look at him.
"You thought you could escape, did ya?" he said.
Jessica looked over to the crew, adverting her gaze away from Barbossa, he let go of her arms.
"If any of you so much as thinks the word 'parley' I'll have your guts for garters," Pintel said holding a pistol to them.
Jessica looked back at the Interceptor which had drifted at least a hundred feet from the Pearl. Suddenly it exploded, Jessica jumped forward hitting the railing of the Pearl.
"Will!" Jessica screamed.
The same scene eight years ago played through her head, but this time she knew Will was on the ship.
Jessica turned to see Elizabeth had gotten free of the ropes tying her to the mast, she jumped at Barbossa.
"You've got to stop it!" she yelled. "Stop it!"
Barbossa quickly subdued her and held her arms with force, but she still struggled against him.
"Welcome back, miss," Barbossa said. "You took advantage of our hospitality last time, it holds fair now you return the favor."
Barbossa pushed her away toward the awaiting crew, Elizabeth shrieking as they grabbed at her. Jessica was about to step in, regardless of her own safety, but something stopped her.
"Barbossa!" the voice yelled.
Jessica turned to see where it had come from.
"Will," she smiled, seeing him standing on the Pearl's railing, sopping wet.
He had escaped before the ship had blown up, by now Jessica knew she couldn't trust to infer anything about Will's fate. He always seemed to get out of hopeless situations, much like Jack did. Will grabbed a pistol off the table the Pearl's crew had put the other crew's weapons on.
"She goes free!" Will demanded pointing the pistol at Barbossa.
"What's in your head, boy!" Barbossa said angrily walking closer to Will.
"She goes free," Will repeated, also angry.
"You've only got one shot, and we can't die," Barbossa said.
Jessica looked over to where the Pearl's crew was holding Jack as Jack made a slight movement.
"Don't do anything stupid," he whispered, seemingly, to Will.
Will thought for a moment and then ran back across the ship where he had come from. He jumped onto the railing, holding the ratlines.
"You can't," Will said pointing the pistol toward the Pearl's crew. "I can," Will said pointing the pistol under his own .
Elizabeth jerked forward, but Jessica's attention was on Will, hoping, praying, he wouldn't really do it.
"Like that," Jessica heard Jack sigh quietly.
"Who are you?" Barbossa asked criticizingly.
"No one, he's no one," Jack said jogging up to Barbossa. "A distant cousin of my aunt's nephew twice removed. Lovely singing voice though, eunuch."
"My name is Will Turner! My father was Bootstrap Bill Turner, his blood runs in my veins!" Will called out.
Jack walked away from Barbossa, head hanging in defeat. Jessica smiled, Jack was horrible at hiding things from people, trying to cover up things, but she knew he was usually a great liar.
"He's the spitting image of ol' Bootstrap Bill, come back to haunt us!" Ragetti exclaimed.
"On my word, do as I say, or I'll pull this trigger and be lost to Davy Jones' Locker," Will said.
Jessica knew Will must be specific or it wouldn't work the way he planned, she hoped he'd learned that from Jack.
"Name your terms, Mr. Turner," Barbossa said.
"Elizabeth goes free!"
"Yes, we know that one. Anything else?" Barbossa asked.
Come on, Will, please, please, tell me you've learned something from being with my brother for this long, Jessica thought.
"Jessica is not to be harmed, and the crew...the crew are not to be harmed," Will said.
"Agreed," Barbossa said.
Jessica knew he hadn't been specific enough, Barbossa would surely turn Will's words around to benefit himself.
Jessica noticed the ship's course change before they'd even arrived at the small island. Of course the island was a good mile or so swim to the shore from where the Pearl was anchored. Elizabeth was taken and forced a sword and pistol point on a plank over the side of the ship. Barbossa and the crew were laughing as they did so.
"Go on, poppet! Walk the plank!" the shouted.
Elizabeth walked out to the edge of the plank and looked down at the clear water below her. Jessica was being restrained by some of the crew, she felt light-headed and dizzy. She blamed it on the heat and the good knock on the head she'd gotten earlier.
"Barbossa, you lying bastard! You swore she'd go free!" Will exclaimed, getting rushed by the crew.
"Don't dare impugn me honor, boy! I agreed she'd go free, but it was you who failed to specify when or where," Barbossa replied laughing as the crew put a gag in Will's mouth.
Will didn't resist as the crew drug him away from Barbossa, Jessica saw the defeat in his eyes. She wished she could comfort him, tell him there was nothing he could have really done to help Elizabeth's case, but she was likewise restrained.
"Though it does seem a shame to lose somethin' so fine, don't it, lads?" Barbossa said.
The crew laughed with a gathered "Aye."
"So I'll be having that dress back before you go," Barbossa said to Elizabeth, smiling.
The crew started laughing as Elizabeth turned to look at Barbossa, her face showing she was angry. She furiously unbuttoned the plum-colored dress and took it off, leaving her in only a thin, white cotton slip. There were whistles and laughs from the crew as Elizabeth stood there.
"Goes with your black heart," Elizabeth said throwing the dress at Barbossa.
Barbossa smiled holding the dress up to his check.
"Ooh, it's still warm," he said throwing it to the crew.
Jessica rolled her eyes, the crew had their weapons pointed at Elizabeth.
"Off you go!" the shouted.
Elizabeth walked to the edge of the plank and stopped, she looked back at Will. Jessica saw Will give her a sad, defeated look.
"Too long!" the biggest crew member yelled stepping on the plank.
The plank jerked and Elizabeth fell into the ocean below with a scream. Jessica looked back at Will, his eyes were wide, staring at where Elizabeth had stood.
Jessica looked over to see Jack standing on the beginning of the plank.
"I really rather hoped we were past all this," Jack said nervously to Barbossa.
"Jack...Jack," Barbossa said putting an arm around Jack's shoulders. "Did you not notice? That be the same little island we made you governor of on our last little trip."
"I did notice," Jack said.
Jessica didn't want Jack to go, she needed to talk to him. She knew she couldn't now, though, Jack could talk himself out of many situations, but this wasn't one of them.
"Perhaps, you'll be able to conjure up another miraculous escape, but I doubt it," Barbossa said drawing his sword.
Jack moved to the end of Barbossa's sword, further on the plank.
"Off you go," Barbossa said to Jack.
"Last time you left me a pistol with one shot," Jack said.
Jessica knew he was stalling them.
"By the powers, you're right! Where be Jack's pistol? Bring it forward," Barbossa said.
One of the crew handed Barbossa Jack's sword and pistol, Jessica saw Jack had been looking down at the water.
"Seeing as there's two of us, a gentleman would give us a pair of pistols," Jack said.
"It'll be one pistol as before, you can be the gentleman and shoot the lady and starve to death yourself," Barbossa said.
He threw Jack's sword and pistol into the water, Jack hesitated for a second and then dove into the water after his effects.
After much shoving, pushing and grabbing, Jessica, Will, and the rest of their crew were put into the ship's brig. It didn't bother Jessica too much because she had spent many days in here when she'd first been taken prisoner. She was also in the same cell as Will, the crew in the one across from them.
"Will, Jack will take care of Elizabeth, don't worry," Jessica said in an attempt of comfort him, resting her head on his shoulder.
"I feel like it's my fault, I should have been more specific," Will said downcast.
"Pirates. There was nothing you could have done, Will," Jessica said trying to reassure him.
They stood in the damp cell, the floor had at least an half-an-inch of water covering the boards. Jessica watched as Will looked around, taking particular interest in the cell door.
"How did you bare it all these years?" Will asked Jessica.
Jessica chuckled, "I didn't spend much time down here, the first week or so, after I'd stopped trying to drown myself they let me out."
Will looked at Jessica in confusion.
"You tried to drown yourself?" Will asked in almost concern
Jessica frowned, "I thought I'd just lost you and night after night of the pirates scaring me half to death broke me, Will."
"I can hardly imagine anything braking you," Will replied.
Jessica smiled faintly.
Soon Pintel and Ragetti came down in the brig to swab the floor, to no avail. Jessica perked up from trying to sleep leaning against the side of the cell.
"If you really want to know so much about your father, ask them, they knew him," Jessica whispered to Will.
Will walked over to the cell door, leaning against it.
"You knew William Turner?" Will asked them.
"Ol' Bootstrap Bill, we knew him," Pintel said bitterly. "Never sat well with Bootstrap what we did to Jack Sparrow, with the mutiny and all. Said it wasn't right with the Code, that's why he sent off a piece of the treasure to you, as it were. He said we deserved to be cursed, and remain cursed," Pintel said.
"Stupid blighter," Ragetti said.
"Good man," Gibbs and Jessica countered in a split-second.
Pintel looked angrily between the two, Jessica noticed Will looking at the floor, sadness on his face.
"Well, as you can imagine, that didn't sit to well with the captain," Pintel said.
"That didn't sit well with the captain at all," Ragetti echoed. "Tell him what Barbossa did."
"I'm telling the story!" Pintel yelled at Ragetti.
He turned back to Will, "So what the captain did. He strapped a cannon to Bootstrap's bootstraps."
"Bootstrap's bootstraps," Ragetti laughed.
"And last we saw of Ol' Bill Turner, he was sinking to the crushin' black oblivion of Davy Jones' Locker...'Course it was only after that we learned we needed his blood to lift the curse," Pintel said.
"Now, that's what you call ironic," Ragetti said.
They both started laughing, Jessica saw Will glaring at them. Jessica looked at Will, she wanted to comfort him, but she knew there was no way to. Then there were footsteps on the stairs, and Barbossa came down.
"Bring 'em," he commanded throwing a ring of keys at Ragetti.
Ragetti scrambled to catch them and then unlocked Will and Jessica's cell.
Jessica and Will were forced out of their cell, their hands tied behind their backs and were lead into a longboat. Jessica clinging to Will, not wanting to lose him again and fearing what would happen if they were separated. Only two of the Pearl's crew were left to guard the ship, Jessica doubted the ship would need any guarding. As they rowed to the caves Jessica moved closer to Will to fight the bitter, bone-chilling cold.
"It's going to be okay, Jess, I'll not let them harm you," Will said.
Jessica's face would have turned into a giant smile had the situation not been what it was. Will hadn't called her that since before she could remember, it was the best reassurance he could have given her. She rested her head, heavy with building fatigue, on his shoulder and soon drifted off.
It felt like only seconds that she'd been asleep before Jessica woke to being gently shaken.
"Jessica, wake up, we're almost to the shore," Will's voice woke her.
Soon, the longboats were pulled up on the shore of the cave and Barbossa lead the line of pirates through the cave. Jessica and Will were pulled ashore and lead after Barbossa by Pintel and Ragetti.
"No reason to fret, just a prick of the finger, a few drops of blood," Pintel said in a mock-cheery voice.
One of the other pirates, Twigg, put his arm roughly on Will's shoulder.
"No mistakes this time, he's only half Turner, we spill it all!" he said.
Will glared at him before being drug away, Jessica frowned as he was forced up the hill. Some of the crew held Will as Barbossa made his way back down the hill, grabbing Jessica by the arm and pulling her up the hill next to Will.
"You will watch this," Barbossa said to her.
Barbossa walked over to Will and picked the rusted dagger up from the chest. The pirates started chanting as Barbossa held the dagger in the air.
"Begun by blood, by blood un-" he stopped shortly looking at something in the crowd of pirates.
Will -who was being forced to double over the chest- struggled against the pirates holding him, following Barbossa's gaze.
"Jack!" Will exclaimed in shock.
Jessica looked over and there stood Jack Sparrow at the head of the pirates.
"It's not possible," Barbossa said in shock.
"Not probable," Jack corrected.
Will half-stood all the way up, the pirates still holding him.
"Where's Elizabeth?" Will asked.
"She's safe, just like I promised. She's all set to marry Norrington, just like she promised, and you get to die for her just like you promised. So, we're all men of our word, really, except for Elizabeth, who is, in fact, a woman," Jack said.
Jessica knew he was stalling again, something he was good at, there was something he wanted or he wouldn't be doing this.
"Shut up! You're next!" Barbossa snapped.
The pirates forced Will back over the chest, Barbossa held the dagger against Will's neck. Jessica looked at Will, hopelessness showing in her brown eyes.
Jack bit his lip.
"You don't want to be doing that, mate," he said to Barbossa.
Barbossa looked at him, "No, I really think I do."
Barbossa turned back to Will.
"Your funeral," Jack stated, shrugging.
Barbossa paused, and then rolled his eyes, unable to ignore Jack. He looked up at Jack.
"Why don't I want to be doing it?" he asked Jack.
"Well, because..." Jack stopped, slapping the hand of the crew member holding him.
The man let Jack walk forward.
"Because the HMS Dauntless, pride of the Royal Navy, is floating just offshore, waiting for you," Jack said.
The crew made mutters of surprise, looking at the entrance of the cave, Barbossa's eyes widened.
Jessica smiled slightly, Jack had a way with words all right. She knew he was up to something, but Barbossa did not. Jack made his way up to the chest, he stood in front of Barbossa.
"Just hear me out, mate, you order your men to row out to the Dauntless, they do what they do best," Jack said.
The crew chuckled and agreed.
"Robert's your uncle, Fannie's your aunt, there you are with two ships. The makings of your very own fleet, of course you'll take the grandest as your flagship and who's to argue? But what of the Pearl? Name me captain, I'll sail under your colors, I'll give you ten percent of me plunder, and you get to introduce yourself as Commodore Barbossa, savvy?" Jack said.
Jessica smiled, she knew Jack had been planning something like this, he always did. Barbossa looked toward Will.
"I suppose in exchange, you want me not to kill the whelp," Barbossa said.
"No, no, no, not at all, by all means, kill the whelp. Just not yet, wait to lift the curse until the opportune moment," Jack said.
At the last words Will's eyes lit up in understanding, Jessica noticed.
"For instance," Jack said picking up four coins from the chest. "After you've killed Norrington's men. Every last one."
Jack dropped a coin in after every word, Jessica hardly noticed as he tucked the last coin into his sleeve. Barbossa was too busy looking at Jack's face to notice, but Jessica saw Will look at Jack's hand.
"You've been planning this from the beginning! Ever since you learned my name," Will said struggling against the pirates holding him.
"Yeah," Jack replied.
Barbossa looked back at Jack.
"I want fifty-percent of your plunder," he said.
"Fifteen," Jack argued.
"Forty."
"Twenty-five," Jack said. "I'll buy you the hat, a really big one, Commodore."
Barbossa smiled, putting out his hand.
"We have an accord," he said, Jack shaking his hand.
Barbossa turned to the crew to order them, but Jack cut him off.
"All hands to the boats!" Jack commanded.
Barbossa looked over at him, Jack looked at Barbossa.
"Apologies, you give the orders," Jack said backing up.
Barbossa turned to the crew, "Gents, take a walk."
The crew dispersed leaving only a few to hold Will and Jessica.
"Not to the boats?" Jack asked, confused.
Barbossa smiled.
Jessica looked at Jack, she wished she could speak to him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Last time they had had a conversation -and it was many years ago- it hadn't ended well and Jessica believed by the way Jack looked at her on the Interceptor he hadn't forgotten it. She and Will were lead back down the small hill and stood on the cave floor, still guarded by the pirates. Jessica and Will exchanged looks of worry Jessica had a feeling Jack had something up his sleeve to get them out of this mess, but she wasn't sure.
Jack started to rummage through the items strewn on the floor and in piles.
"I have to admit, Jack, I thought I had you figured, but it turns out you're a hard man to predict," Barbossa said.
Jack turned to face them.
"Me? I'm dishonest and a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for because you can never predict," Jack said walking toward them, "when they're going to do something incredibly...stupid."
Jack pulled a sword from the belt of the nearest pirate, kicking him into the water. He tossed the sword to Will, Will caught it and elbowed the pirate holding him away. One of the other pirates attacked him, swinging his sword, Will turned, letting the sword cut his bonds. Will crossed blades with the pirate, quickly pushing him back.
"Jess!" Will called throwing Jessica a sword that had fallen.
Jessica caught the sword, cutting her bonds and running to join Will who was being attacked three-to-one. Jessica caught a glimpse of Jack crossing blades with Barbossa, she wished the best for her brother and turned to help Will. Jessica was fighting off two of the pirates -the other being held back by Will- when she was knocked to her knees after a second-late defense. Before she could regain her footing she was kicked down by one of the pirates, knocking her breath out. She fell into one of the caves' shallow pools, and was forced under the water by the pirate. After already losing her breath -and having little time to regain it- it didn't take long for Jessica to start using all her will-power not to inhale the water and drown. She started to struggle blindly, kicking and hitting, trying to free her neck of the pirate's iron grip. He had forced her all the way to the bottom, she fought until her lungs were stinging and her head was swimming. A wave of unconsciousness washed over her, panic gripping her as she realized she could die. Gasping and coughing up water Jessica quickly came back to the cave. She immediately realized she had been pulled from the water. She was lying -soaking wet- on her back, Will kneeling over her. "Will!" she exclaimed sitting up, throwing her arms around him.
Will seemed shocked for a second and then quickly returned her embrace.
"Jessica, I thought for sure you were going to-" Will faltered for a second, Jessica taking up the silence.
"I would-will never leave you,Will, never," she said looking into his eyes.
There was silence between them.
"Are you alright?" Will asked.
"Yeah," Jessica said.
Will helped her to her feet and they turned to confront the pirates. Jessica quickly told him a few ways they could be permanently killed as the undead pirates approached. The fighting never seemed to end, no opportunity had arisen to kill the undead pirates. A break in the fight, though, did occur giving Jessica time to look up at a thick ledge on the side of the cave that sloped up to its ceiling. There, Barbossa and Jack fought all the way up the slope. Barbossa knocked Jack down, standing over him. He threw his sword down and through the echoing cave Jessica heard his words. "You can't beat me, Jack," he said.
Jack took his sword and drove it through Barbossa. Barbossa audibly and visibly sighed. Jessica's eyes widened and she lurched forward, gasping, as Barbossa pulled the sword from his body and stabbed Jack with it.
"Jack!" Jessica exclaimed, tears forming in her eyes.
Will knocked the last of the pirates unconscious and came to Jessica's side. When he saw what she was seeing he held her close to him. Jessica started to cry, Will trying to comfort her.
"Jess, look," Will said.
Will's shock relayed through Jessica and she followed her gaze back to Jack. He was standing in the moonlight that shone down through one of the holes in the ceiling, but he looked different. Then it hit Jessica, he had taken one of the coins from the chest, so he shared the curse. She sighed in relief and watched as Jack admired himself. He played with the coin he had stolen between his fingers.
"I couldn't resist, mate," Jack said to Barbossa and they continued fighting.
Jessica and Will continued to fight off the other pirates, Jessica hoping they could kill them soon so she could help Jack. Suddenly, Will grabbed Jessica and forced her to the ground, a bomb exploding beside them, throwing the treasure everywhere.
"I'm gonna teach you the meaning of pain!" the pirate who threw the bomb said standing over them.
"You like pain?" a voice said.
He turned to the voice and a gold rod swung out and knocked him down.
"Try wearing a corset," Elizabeth said.
Elizabeth helped them up and turned to where Barbossa and Jack were fighting in the moonlight.
"Who's side is Jack on?" Elizabeth asked, annoyed.
"At the moment?" Will said.
Elizabeth pulled Will after her, swinging the gold rod at one of the pirates and then throwing it to Will. Jessica came up after them, helping to fight off the pirates that were getting back up. Together, Will and Elizabeth drove the spike rod through all three of the pirates. The pirates struggled to get free, but they were stuck. Jessica stood beside Will and Elizabeth as Will took a lit bomb and stuck it in one of the pirates. They pushed the row of pirates out of the moonlight, making them human again.
"No fair," one of the pirates said trying to get the bomb out of him.
Jessica, Will, and Elizabeth ran to the island as the group of pirates exploded behind them. Will ran up the hill standing over the chest. Jessica turned as Jack threw his coin up to Will, who caught it. Barbossa took one look at Will and aimed his pistol at Jessica and Elizabeth. A gunshot rang through the cave. Jessica looked down to see if she or Elizabeth had been hit, and then to Will: they were all fine. Barbossa face became confused, he looked at Jack who had his pistol raised, it was smoking.
"Ten years you carry that pistol, and now you waste your shot," Barbossa said laughing.
"He didn't waste it."
Jessica looked up at Will, he had the dagger in his left hand, blood dripping from it, his right clenched around the two coins, he dropped them in the chest. Barbossa dropped his sword, and looked down at his chest, he gave a nervous huff.
"I feel...cold," he said falling down, dead.
So, this was just really hard to cut chapters especially since I didn't want them to be like two paragraphs. Here's how it turned our so hope you liked it... I'll update soon.