Chapter 7

"Dad!" Jewel yelled, running along the beach, "Dad, where are you?" She topped and looked back at where she started, noticing ship wreckage washing up on the shores. The former crew of the Black Pearl and Hai Peng were not far behind.

"Sparrow, come back!" Came Barbossa's voice

"Not yet!" Jewel shouted back, running up one of the large sand dunes. It was a difficult climb, but she succeeded. However, the fruits of her labor were worth nothing. From the top of the dune, she saw nothing but sand. A barren wasteland.

It was truly hell for any pirate. No wind. No water. Nothing.

"Dad!" Jewel yelled, "Dad! ... MOM!" She took one step forward to walk down the dune, but slid and tumbled down instead. She yelped when something fell on her stomach. It was a bottle.

"What's this doing here?" she asked herself. She pulled the cork out. A small string was stuck into the bottom of it to help pull out a piece of parchment from inside. It was folded up tightly, but Jewel unfolded it. She put a hand over her mouth seeing the words.

"Please help me.

I am trapped on a ship. I am scared here. I hate the captain

Please please please anybody save me

The ship is the Black Pearl

please save me from this hell

Jewel Sparrow"

She had written the letter years ago, after the mutiny on the Pearl, but before her escape. Before her last years with her mother. Before everything happened. Before everything changed. Jewel stood and looked back at the dune. Jutting out from it, as if they were providing support, were hundreds of bottles.

Each one had hope within them, be they sent by somebody trapped on a ship or stuck on an island. The hope drifted away, through foreign and strange waters. The senders did not know where they went, but prayed for somebody to find them to save them from turmoil. If only they knew.

"This is where the bottles go if somebody doesn't find one." Jewel sighed, shaking her head.

"Sparrow!" Barbossa shouted again. Jewel rolled her eyes.

"I'm coming you old dog!" She yelled back, climbing over the bottles and sliding down the dune. She returned to her friends, and acquaintances, as they all came out of the water and onto the beach. Jewel looked over everybody.

"Is everyone here and accounted for?" Jewel asked

"Aye, all safe." Gibbs said, looking over the desolate land. "But this truly is a Godforsaken place." He shook his head.

"I don't see Jack, I don't see anyone." Elizabeth said, sounding as if she was about to give up.

"He's here. Davy Jones never once gave up that what he took." Barbossa said

"Well we're going to take what he took, so that doesn't matter." Jewel said

"Aye," Will said, pointing at Barbossa, "but we're all trapped here by your doing, no different than Jack."

"Don't we have a way out?" Jewel asked

"A riddle on the chart, but nothing more." Barbossa said to her.

"Witty Jack..." Tia started, gaining everybody's attention, stroking a small gray crab, "is closer than you think." Something appeared over a dune. It was small at first, but the more of it that came over it, the more the shape was identifiable. It was a black ship, with black sails, sailing over the sand on the backs of hundreds and thousands of crabs.

"The Pearl." Jewel breathed, a smile forming on her face.

That's one parent found. she thought

"Impossible." Tai Huang said. The Black Pearl sailed into the ocean. The crabs were flung into the air and into the water, becoming the sea-foam that surrounded the Pearl as she sailed further out into the water.

"Boat." Ragetti said, pointing at the ship. Jewel looked at him and pursed her lips.

"Not exactly, but close enough." she said, patting him on the shoulder.

"Slap me thrice and hand me to me momma, it's Jack!" Gibbs said. Everybody hurried to the area where the Pearl reached the water. Elizabeth smiled, but the smile faded as quickly as it came.

"Elizabeth?" Jewel asked

"Yes, I'm fine." she said, seriously. Jewel shrugged and join the group. Jewel pulled out her spyglass and looked to the ship. A boat was being lowered into the water, one man was in it. She closed it and threw it back into her bag.

"You've found your fader, but what of your moder?" Tia asked her. Jewel looked back at her, noticing the gray crab she still had in her hands, but thinking nothing of it.

"I'll find her once I'm sure my dad is safe." Jewel replied. The boat sailed closer. Once it reached the shore, the only occupant stepped out. Everybody rushed closer to see him. It was Captain Jack Sparrow in the flesh.

"It's the captain!" Pintel said

"Rawk! Hide the rum!" Cotton's parrot said

"A sight for sore eyes, Jack!" Gibbs said, holding his arms out.

"Good to see you dad." Jewel said

"Mr Gibbs!" Jack snapped, stopping in front of Gibbs. Gibbs put his arms down to his side and stood at attention, waiting for orders.

"Aye captain." he said

"I thought so. I expect you can account for your actions, then?" Jack asked

"... Sir?" Gibbs replied

"There has been a perpetual and virulent lack of discipline aboard my vessel! Why? Why is that, sir?" Jack asked, with an outraged tone.

"You're in Davy Jones' locker, Captain." Gibbs said, leaning forward.

"... I know that. I know where I am, and don't think I don't." He said, sounding like he was very confident in himself.

"Dad?" Jewel asked

"Ah luv," he said walking up to her and pinching both of her cheeks, "my sweet little baby darling." he let go of her, "It seems you've finally come to pay off all the times I've had to save you!"

"I've saved you more than you've saved me." Jewel said, rubbing her cheeks.

"No you didn't." Jack said shaking his head.

"Jack Sparrow." Barbossa said

"Ah, Hector." Jack said, walking up to him, a smile spread across his face. "It's been too long, hasn't it?"

"Aye. Isla de Muerta, remember? You shot me." Barbossa said. Jack's eyes looked away briefly.

"No I didn't." He replied, shaking his head slightly, "Tia Dalma," he walked over to her, "out and about, eh? You lend an agreeable sense of the macabre to any delirium."

"He thinks we're a hallucination." Will said, gaining Jack's attention. The pirate Captain in question walked over to Will.

"William," he said, "tell me something. Have you come because you need my help to rescue a certain distressing damsel? Or rather a damsel in distress? Either one."

"No." Will responded

"Then you wouldn't be here. So you can't be here. Q.E.D, you're not really here!" Jack said

"Jack," Elizabeth said, stepping forward out of the crowd, "this is real, we're here." Jack's smile dropped. He pointed at Elizabeth and opened his mouth to speak. He quickly closed it and scurried back to Gibbs.

"The locker, you say?" he asked

"Aye." Gibbs said

"We've come to rescue you." Elizabeth said, following him. Everybody else joined her in going after Jack Sparrow.

"Have you, now?" Jack asked, turning to face his crew, "That's very kind of you. But seeing as I possess a ship and you don't, it seems as though you're the ones in need of rescuing, and I'm not sure as I'm in the mood." Jewel rolled her eyes.

"I see my ship. Right there." Barbossa said, pointing at the Pearl. Jack looked back at his ship and squinted, holding a hand up to shade his eyes.

"Can't spot it. Must be a tiny little thing hiding somewhere behind the Pearl." he said

"Jack." Will said, coming up close to Jack, "Cutler Beckett has the heart of Davy Jones."

"He controls the Flying Dutchman." Jewel said, doing the same.

"He's taking over the seas." Elizabeth said, following suit.

"The song has already been sung." Tia said, also doing the same. "The Brethren Court is called." Jack walked away from them, shrugging them off of his shoulders.

"Leave you people alone for one minute and look what's happened, everything's gone to pot." Jack said

"Aye, Jack. The world needs you back something fierce." Gibbs said

"And you need a crew." Will added. Jack stopped and spun around.

"Why should I sail with any of you? Five of you have tried to kill me in the past, one of you succeeded." Jack said, looking directly at Elizabeth when he was finished speaking. Will and Jewel looked at her surprised at this.

"What?" Jewel asked

"Oh, she's not told you? You'll have loads to talk about while you're here." Jack said walking toward his "crew". He looked to Tia and said, "As for you..." Tia smiled and stroked his beard braids.

"Now, don't tell me you didn't enjoy it, at de time." she said. Jack smiled.

"Fair enough, alright, you're in." he said, walking down the line of his "men". He stopped in front of Jewel.

"Now why should I keep you? You're temperamental, you're annoying, and you're quite witty and sly, and I'm not sure if I can trust you." Jack said. Jewel raised on eyebrow.

"I'm your daughter." she said

"True." Jack nodded, going down the line. "Don't need you, you scare me." he said to Ragetti, before walking on and even passing Pintel, "Gibbs, you can come. Marty. Cotton. Cotton's parrot, I'm a little iffy, but at least I'll have someone to talk to." He stared at Tai Huang and his crew. "Who are you?"

"Tai Huang. These are my men." he replied

"Where do your allegiances lie?" Jack asked

"With the highest bidder." Tai Huang said

"I have a ship." Jack said, pointing back to the Pearl.

"That makes you the highest bidder." Tai Huang sad with a smile.

"Good man." Jack said, "Weigh anchor, all hands, prepare to make sail, and pick up Janice. Make sure she's not left here." He looked down at his compass The needle was spinning wildly around again. He snapped it closed.

"Jack," Barbossa said, tapping on the charts, Will, Elizabeth, Pintel, and Ragetti right behind him, "which way ya goin', Jack?" Jewel rolled her eyes.

"Let them come dad. I trust them." Jewel said. Jack let out a laugh.

"You trusting him is how the mutiny began, luv, remember?" he said

"Aye, but he's changed. I honestly trust him now." Jewel said looking at Barbossa with a smile. He nodded to her.

"Fine, you lot can sail with us." Jack said begrudgingly. Jack walked forward but looked back, noticing Jewel was walking next to Barbossa and actually holding his arm. He made a face and walked to his boat. Jewel grabbed Elizabeth's arm as she passed.

"What did you do to my father?" she asked