Chapter 5

Jack didn´t move. He couldn´t. His mind couldn´t comprehend what had just happened. „JACK!" It was Gibbs´ voice that echoed from down aboard the Black Pearl, beneath him in the water, fighting against the Dark Eagle, that made his senses return. Jack looked down at the Black Pearl and realized how stupid he had been leaving Luna and Larry on board. They could be dead. Before he could do anything about that, though, he noticed the reason why Gibbs had shouted for Jack in the first place. Three more ships were rapidly approaching on the side of the Dark Eagle. It was four ships and crews against two. Or one and a half. This was it. This was the end. Suddenly, Jack spotted Captain Arthur, aboard the Eagle, who in turn, spotted Jack. A look of pure hatred plastered itself on his face and he bellowed: „SPARROW IS UP THERE, YA FILTHY RATS!" Promptly, a group of about 30 Arthur-pirates jumped into their longboats and made their way back to the beach, which was only about 100 meters away from the cliffs.

Jack managed to gather himself enough to start running. He needed to get through the small forest, right to the other side of Rumrunner´s Island, where he could only hope Arthur wouldn´t find him. But then, he stopped and sprinted back in his ridiculous way of running. He couldn´t leave Angelica there. He bit his lip and forced himself to pick up her body in his arms and take her with him. It was the least he could do after all the mess he had made when she was still alive.

Luna and Larry were still hiding in Jack´s cabin, behind the wardrope. The windows had already been broken by cannonfire and they absolutely needed to stay hidden. She was still going through maps while Larry was growing more impatient by the second. „Luna, listen to me. We need to go right now or we´ll be dead." But she was convinced she was onto something. „I´m not going to let this go, when I´m already so close, Larry. I have something, I know it. Something just feels odd." Another cannonball shook the Pearl."Let´s GO, LUNA!"

„No, wait. Look." She had found the map with the drawing of the bird on it, close to Jamaica. The one she had studied when she had first gone through the maps on Jack´s desk. „Larry, it´s identical to the bird on the flag and at the bow of the Dark Eagle. It´s an eagle. It´s what I remember seeing when Port Royal was attacked. And the cannonfire, it sounds the same. Larry, it was Captain Arthur. HE destroyed Port Royal. He killed my mother." Her excited voice broke at the end of that sentence and sadness, but also anger, loads of anger, overcame her. She grabbed Larry by the arm and dragged him to the door. It was unlocked and Andrew, the pirate guarding it, lay lifeless on the floor. They had to leave now, or they´d be found and killed for sure, so they dived into the water together.

As soon as Luna hit the cold water and broke through ist surface, she immediately regretted her decision. What were they going to do? Two teenagers, in the middle of an already lost battle, without enough skill and practice to shoot or stab this many pirates. She suddenly became very aware of everything around her. A body of a dead man fell into the water and sunk down beside her and the water turned red. She was underwater and could still hear the cries and gunshots from above, now accompanied by a loud sound, which was unmistakably thunder. As she stared into the dead man´s wide, open, dead eyes, she decided she had been down there long enough and swam back to the surface, immediately greeted by heavy rain.

Larry had already made it to the beach and looked more relieved than ever, when Luna reappeared and as soon as she was close enough, he waded into the water and helped her get onto dry land. „Luna, we should go find Jack. Tell him, that it was Arthur, it was him all along." Larry suggested to her and earned a nod. „But we need to stay hidden. You heard Arthur before, he saw Jack up at the cliffs and sent his men to go find him. Let´s go there first." Luna decided and started to march off. „No, wait. Why would he still be there? You know Jack, he´d run in that situation. He won´t be there, and if he is, he´s dead." Larry argued and Luna stopped, thought about it briefly, smirked and nodded, kind of… proudly. The two teens headed off in the opposite direction of the cliffs, through the forest and to the other side of the island, where the cliffs were even higher and steeper. Larry was suprised at how fast of a runner Luna was. She was quite muscular, compared to the other girls or women he knew and she sure was fast, he almost had trouble keeping up with her.

Jack was standing at the edge of the steep cliffs right on the other side of the island. Angelica´s body was lying a few metres further back, just where the palm trees ended. It was still raining, but the sunset was somehwat magical, as it was not as visible or colourful as normal, but it was still there. It was ironic, on such a brutal, violent day, nature showed them how beautiful it all was. „What are we going to do now?" A female voice said from beside him. Startled, he turned his head and came face to face with Angelica, who quickly turned to stare at the sunset. She still had the wounds on her arm and leg, but she otherwise looked pretty okay. As in, alive and somewhat well. „I thought they shot ye" Jack mentioned, no emotion in his voice, but trying to hide the extreme relief he was feeling. They weren´t looking at each other, but he knew she smiled and shrugged. „I shot him. He cut my arm, I screamed and shot him, out of relfex or instinct, I don´t know. The wound on my leg was already there before, when another pirate scratched my leg with his sword. Someone then knocked me out, probably with his gun. I woke up here." She explained and Jack smirked. Typical.

Another flash of lightning followed by thunder after a few seonds made them snap back into reality. „They´ll find us soon, you know." Angelica stated, but she knew Jack was aware. In a way, she had accepted she was going to die tonight. There was no way out. They were outnumbered by the most dangerous pirates in the Caribbean, possibly even the world. It was hopeless. But, she was here with him, as cheesy as it sounded. It was a nice way to die, from a pirate´s point of view. Being shot and dying side by side with her ex, who she still loved and who was in her mind, never really her ex or her boyfriend/partner to start with, while watching the sun set and feeling the pleasant rain on her wounded skin. Jack sensed she had given up. He hadn´t. Or maybe he had. But he thought he was never going to die. He simply hadn´t come to terms with the fact this might be his last day on earth.

Suddenly, the water below them started to move more than before and the waves got even higher. Something started to rise from under the surface. If he had been drunk, he could have sworn it was the Kraken, but it was a ship. Not any ship, the ship everyone, except Arthur, had secretly been hoping to arrive and help. The Flying Dutchman. Will Turner was at the Helm, a smirk plastered on his face as he took off his hat and waved with it to Jack. „Oy, Jack! Need any help?" He called and Angelica looked at the Dutchman in disbelief. She never thought she would actually see it one day. Jack called back: „Greatly appreciated, William! They´re on the other side!" Will nodded and ordered his crew to get back to their stations and with immense speed, they took off towards the battle scene, where Arthur´s four ships were fighting against the weakened two ships and crews.

„FIRE!" Will bellowed at the top of his lungs and Bootstrap Bill, his father, repeated the order, so no one would miss it. The had come from around back and had now taken three of the enemy´s crews completely by surprise and the had almost no chance to react. The Dark Eagle was immediately trying to turn around and make a run (or sail) for it, but was closely followed by what was left of the Black Pearl and the Queen Anne´s Reevenge. The men had found their courage again and were firing at the ships like crazy. Two of them almost blew up completely and sunk as soon as that had happned. The other one was close to follow. Now it was just the Dark Eagle, surrounded by the three ships, who gave it their all and it started burning, exploding and finally, sinking. Everyone started cheering and shouting their best wishes and congratulations to Will and his crew for saving them. It seemed as though the battle had been won by the weaker pirates, who, unlike Arthur, had something worth fighting for.