Chapter 24

The sound of cannon-fire filled the air like a song, pounding and pulsing through every pirate and sailors chest with the each blast and explosion. Every time a cannonball made its mark splinters of wood erupted from the spot. The splinters could blind, or even kill somebody, if they were careless.

At the helm , standing near Barbossa, Jewel ducked when a cannonball tore through one of the lanterns that stood on both sides of the stern. The rain falling from the sky never let up. It only ever seemed to get harder with every passing second.

"They're going to board!" Barbossa shouted. Jewel noticed men on the Dutchman hanging on to ropes hanging above them. She went to the railing and looked at the crew.

"Grab your grappling hooks and make ready to board! They want to fight us on our ship, we may as well do the same!" Jewel yelled. "And hurry!" Many grabbed what ropes they could find to help them swing over to the Dutchman, just as fishmen and sailors swung to the Pearl. She ran down on deck and took out her pistols firing at the sailors, considering they only affected mortal men. When a fishman came at her, she spun both of her pistols around and slammed them across the mutants face once, surprising him and making him step back, then again, knocking him overboard.

Jewel spun her pistols around, tucking them into her belt. She pulled out her cutlass and with a cry, joined the fray. Every normal man she killed she flinched at the sight. As much as she had done it, looking back at all the lives she'd taken, it was disturbing. She couldn't stand killing somebody, but it had to be done, or else...

No, she shouldn't focus on the other option. Maybe she'll think about it when her life, and the lives of her friends and family, wasn't at stake.

The young pirate quickly pulled out one of her pistols and shot it at somebody who was going to attack Elizabeth from behind. The woman looked back at her. Jewel smiled at her before going back to fighting. But she couldn't help but look back at how Elizabeth and Will were faring.

They both fought valiantly, their moves coinciding perfectly, as if the fight was rehearsed. In synchronization they stabbed and sliced at their foes, occasionally clasping hands or locking arms to do so. They pinned one of Jones' men to the mast and stabbed him with both of their swords. As Elizabeth moved to continue the fight, Will grabbed onto her arm.

"Elizabeth! Elizabeth! Will you marry me?" he asked

"What?" Jewel asked surprised. There remained a stunned silence between the two, even with the battle around them. Jewel was grabbed by the neck by a sailor, who was ready to stab her eyes out, but she caught his hand.

"You're asking her now?" Jewel asked in a strained voice, kicking the man in the mid-section, looking away when she shot him in the head with her pistol. A fishman sliced at Will and Elizabeth, and they both blocked the blow.

"I don't think now is the best time!" Elizabeth shrieked. The lovers turned away to continue fighting.

"Now may be the only time!" Will said, before finishing off the creature he was fighting. He hurried up to Elizabeth to grab her arm once more.

"I love you." he said. They pushed away from each other to fight once more, before meeting again, grabbing on to one of the other's arms.

"I've made my choice. What's yours?" he asked. Jewel stopped her fighting, holding a man in a headlock and looked at them.

"You can't be serious!" she said loudly, kneeing the man in the back and dropping him to the ground. She pulled out her pistol and shot him where he lay.

"Marriage at sword-point?" Jewel asked

"You'll be my brides-maid!" Elizabeth said

"Fair enough, alright, I like it." Jewel said, before running a man through with her sword. She shoved him off to a fishman, knocking him down.

"Barbossa!" Elizabeth yelled, "Marry us!"

"I'm a little busy at the moment!" Barbossa yelled back, fighting his own battle at the helm with regular man and fishman.

"I'm coming!" Jewel shouted appearing next to him. She startled the man, then punched him. He held his face and backed up, just enough to fall down the stairs. Will and Elizabeth continued fighting.

"Barbossa! NOW!" Will yelled

"Fine then!" He yelled. He climbed up on a table in front of the helm. While he stood, Jewel shot a sailor on the other side of it, through Barbossa's legs. The captain in question put a hand over his heart. Will had his arms around Elizabeth looking up at him.

"Dearly beloved, we be gathered here today..." Barbossa started, before a fishman charged up to fight him, "To nail your gizzard to the mast, you poxy cur!" He kicked the man in the face, falling back to Jewel's sword. She pulled it out and sliced him across his belly.

"Elizabeth Swann, do you take me to be your husband?" Will asked, stopping in their sudden fighting.

"I do!" she replied excitedly.

"Great!" Will replied with a smile on their face. They both fought together in unison once more, spinning around with their swords in hand.

"Will Turner, do you take me to be your wife, in sickness and in health, with health being the less likely?" she asked. They stopped once more.

"I do." Will said

"As captain, I now pronounce you," Barbossa said, swinging his sword, fighting two men at once, before killing them one at a time. Jewel shoved a fishman overboard, but grabbed a hatchet he was holding. Elizabeth and Will continued their own fighting.

"You may kiss," Barbossa started, before he shot somebody, laughing. The couple tried to kiss, but were interrupted by the fighting. Jewel threw the hatchet, hitting a fishman in the head. She ducked to avoid losing her head, then fought with the fishman who attempted such a deed.

"You may kiss," Barbossa tried again, but then he helped Jewel fight off the fishman. With all of the fighting they were doing, Will and Elizabeth briefly lost contact with another, actually striking blades with each other in the end.

"JUST KISS!" Barbossa and Jewel yelled, kicking the man away. He came back and Barbossa took care of him. With everybody busy she moved closer to the railing and watched.

Amongst all of the fighting and explosions, the waves crashing all around the ship was love. It was amazing that the world seemed to have dissolved around them as they were lost in the bliss of just the one magnificent moment. Jewel sighed and felt her cheek. Was that a tear or rain water?

That was not important.

What was important was the sword that fell next to her. Jewel spun around and fought the man that tried to kill her, killing him in the end.

"It's rude sneaking up on a lady." she muttered. The helm was spinning when it shouldn't have. Cotton was trying to stop it. Jewel dodged through the battle to grab on to it, almost being lifted up.

"Help me!" Jewel yelled. Cotton grabbed it as well, the two of them straining to get the wheel into a suitable position. The ship was leaning more though. The pirates' eyes grew wide staring at the masts of both ships. The Black Pearl finally leaned over on to the Dutchman, their masts catching each other.

That's when she spotted them, high on the mast near the crow's nest of the Dutchman, were Davy Jones and her father, who was holding the dead man's chest. Jewel smiled.

"He got it!" she said. Jack stumbled and fell. Davy grabbed the other end of the chest, unintentionally saving her father. Jewel looked back at the fighting. It looked like everything was being handled. The numbers against them were trickling down.

"No Jewel." Barbossa said. Jewel smiled at him and let out a short laugh.

"Yes Barbo." she replied, before ship-jumping to the Dutchman. Instantly the girl was attacked. One blow knocked her sword right out of her hand. It skittered on the wood some distance away from her though. She knelt down and head butted the man in the chest, but also drove her knife from her boot into his gut. She twisted it, kicked the man in the shin. She grabbed hold of him and with a mighty roar, she lifted him up and threw him to the deck. She pulled her knife out of the man and slid it back into her boot.

The scratch on her face stung a little. Jewel rubbed at it while picking up her sword. She pulled her hand back seeing red. She couldn't see her own reflection, but she could only imagine what the regular sailors saw in her with half her face covered in blood. She looked at a man who was trembling staring at her. She smirked and growled, barring her teeth for good measure. Then man ran off to fight another opponent, not wishing to lose his life to the hellion that was unleashed on the Dutchman.