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Devil's Bargain	By : EvilE Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (All) > Het - Male/Female > Jack/Elizabeth Views: 9090 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Pirates of the Caribbean movie series, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Chapter X: Revelations

As soon as Will set foot on the deck, and helped Elizabeth up behind him, he scanned the deck for Jack. He found him, sauntering gaily down the steps.

“Jack, I'm so glad to see you,” Will called, closing the distance between them.

Before any of the three knew it, there was the twang of a drawn sword. Elizabeth looked up to find Will holding the point of his sword right under Jack's jaw. Her mouth dropped open in shock.

“Now, I can kill you,” Will growled.

“Will, what on earth are you doing?” Elizabeth called, picking up her skirts to run toward them. “Release him at once!”

“Listening to your wife's a good habit, mate,” Jack said warily, glancing up the shiny metal toward Will's furrowed brows and angry scowl.

“Oh, right,” Will spat out, glancing back and forth between him and Elizabeth. “You must think I'm a fool.”

“Will, he helped me to rescue you. You can't honestly mean to kill Jack.”

“And what, may I ask, was the price of my rescue? Hmm? What's he demanded from you?” Will shoved the tip of the sword a little harder against Jack's skin, and Jack's eyes grew large. “Was it money? Cargo? Or... something a little more sordid?”

“Now why would you think that, I wonder?” Jack said, trying to keep his voice level, which wasn't easy, with Will's pointy stick digging into his windpipe.

“Oh, I wouldn't be at all surprised,” Will said calmly. “I know what Jack really wants.”

“This is nonsense,” Elizabeth addressed to no one in particular. “Will, you've taken leave of your senses.”

“Have I?” Will tilted his head. “Let's see what the bloody compass has to say about it. Where is it, Jack?”

“It's right here, no need to get excited,” Jack said, withdrawing the compass from his belt.
“Open it,” Will ordered.

Jack obeyed, lifting the lid and willing the dial to spin round as it often did, as chaotic as the wind. Instead, it took one trip around and swung back, sharply, toward Elizabeth. “Bugger!”

“I knew it.” Will lifted his sword, causing Jack to stand on tiptoe.

“It's not what you think. Honestly. It's pointing to her because she's got my money.”

“Money?”

“Yes, money,” Elizabeth said, sheer annoyance permeating her voice. “I paid him for his services. Is that so far-fetched?”

Will lowered the sword slightly and Jack's heels came gratefully back to the deck. “Money? Where did you get it? We were broke.”

Elizabeth raised her chin. “From my father. I told him you were missing and I needed to fund a rescue mission. He promised me all the coin he had if I wouldn't get mixed up in anything dangerous.”

“Which, of course, she did anyway, so that only goes to prove, you can't trust a woman,” Jack said airily, taking a small step back from the pointy tip.

“Shut up,” Will growled to him. “Hand over the money, then.”

“Now? It's in my trunk.”

“Yes, now. Go get it. We'll wait.”

Elizabeth returned in a few moments, with a small satchel of coin. She handed it, dutifully, over to Jack.

“Now, open that compass again.”

Jack did as ordered, closing his eyes. I want to live, I want to live, I want to live. The compass spun, stopped sharply and pointed straight back at Jack. “There, you see? Captain Jack Sparrow's got his priorities in order, an' all's right with the world.”

Will rolled his eyes, and lifted his elbow. “It doesn't matter. I saw you.”

A fearful glance passed between Jack and Elizabeth.

“You didn't think I knew, did you? I was watching, on my way down to the longboat, that last day on the Pearl. I saw you kissing her.” He shifted, leaning more on one foot toward Jack. “She came and told us you were staying behind to save us, and then I realized what your last request must have been.”

Elizabeth drew a shaky breath.

Jack smiled then, a slow, teeth-baring smile, that Elizabeth knew did not bode well for any of them. “Oh, I get it. You think Elizabeth's kiss was the price of my heroics, is that it? That I was willing to go down with the ship, if only I could have one, fleeting kiss, from the woman I secretly desired above all else?”

“Something like that,” Will replied, never taking his eyes from Jack's face.

“Anything about that seem, I don't know, strange to you? Stranger than usual? A little out of character for dear, hopelessly self-centered Jack? Hmm?”

Elizabeth nearly fainted. He was going to sell her out, she realized. Jack would reveal her for the murderer she was.

“W-what do you mean?” said Will.

“See, as long as we're telling secrets, here's something you don't know. Your darling Elizabeth is really a pirate.”

“Explain.”

“Elizabeth, realizing, quite astutely, that the Kraken was drawn to the black mark on my hand, above all else, planned to make sure it got me, and not you. You see, she sacrificed me to save your hides. As soon as you and the others got to the longboat, she performed an act worthy of a stage queen. Or, a pirate.”

“Jack, please,” Elizabeth begged, earning a searing glance from Will.

“She kissed me to distract me from her real purpose, which was to ensure that I never left the Pearl. She used that to fool me while she shackled me, none too gently, to the mast. That was Elizabeth's great act of piracy. Quite clever, I must admit. She never thought I'd live to tell the tale, of course.”

“That's ridiculous,” Will scoffed. Then he looked at her face. There were tears in her eyes, and her pretty features were contorted with terror. And something else. Guilt? “Elizabeth! Tell me it's not true.”

A tear spilled from her eye, and Elizabeth continued to meet Will's piercing gaze.

“Yes, Lizzy, tell 'em it's not true. Go on,” Jack goaded.

But it was abundantly clear to Will, suddenly, remarkably, that it was. He lowered his sword, and turned on Elizabeth. “You. You? You condemned Jack to die?”

“Obviously, he didn't,” she sniffed, knowing the excuse sounded paltry, even to her own ears. The way Will was looking at her was punishment enough.

“So you see, Will, there's nothing to worry about after all. Just a little bit of misunderstanding between pirates, is all.” Jack moved backward a few steps, inching toward the steps.

Suddenly Will whirled on him. “Not so fast. There's still the other.”

“The other?” Jack echoed. “Whatever it is, why don't we let bygones be bygones?”

“No. The attack a few months ago, on our ship, when we were crossing to England. Elizabeth was kidnapped and then mysteriously returned. She claimed to be unharmed, and not to have known who the pirates were, but I saw the name of the ship, and found out later, in jail, actually, who the new captain of the Queen Elizabeth was. It was you.” And with this, he once again aimed his sword at Jack's throat.

“Ah, so you put that one together, too. Well, considering what I've already told you about Elizabeth, you can understand I felt a need for a little bit of revenge. I did borrow her from your ship, and thought about killing her, but she begged for her life and I let her go. See? No harm done.”

Will cast his eyes over to Elizabeth. “He didn't harm you?”

Elizabeth rifled quickly through her memories of that attack... the clubbing on the head with the pistol, the damage to their ship, the shackles... Will could never know about that.

“I only saw him once,” she insisted. “I was in the brig, and he came down and threatened to kill me for what I'd done on the Pearl, and I pleaded with him, and he let me go, with a promise not to send you after him.”

“How noble,” Will commented, his voice dripping sarcasm.

“You have no idea,” Jack murmured. A beat passed, as the three exchanged glances. Finally, Will lowered his sword.

“Fine.” He walked over to Elizabeth, who stared up at him tearfully.

“Please forgive me, Will. I thought I was doing the right thing,” she pleaded.
“You're forgiven,” he said, and enfolded her in a tight embrace.

“Well, that's lovely,” said Jack, turning around to walk, crookedly, up the steps. “All set, then? Mr. Gibbs, turn us about. Set sail for Port Royal.”

“Aye-aye, Cap'n,” called Gibbs, and began to shout orders to the rest of the crew.

The Elizabeth's sails billowed. Elizabeth, wrapped securely in Will's arms, stared out across the open sea. She had never been happier, she realized, to have been unburdened of her terrible secret, and reunited with Will. She chanced a look back at Jack, who stood, hands on hips, by the helm. His eyes met hers, and he smiled, his dark eyes glinting.
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Devil's Bargain