Adult-FanFiction.org : Movies

Deliverance	By : Bluemidget57 Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (All) > Het - Male/Female > Jack/Elizabeth Views: 7843 -:- 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
- 1-Deliverance
- 2-Elizabeth
- 3-will
- 4-Sand
- 5-Pearl
- 6-Journey
- 7-Cave
- 8-Ritual
- 9-Calypso
- 10-Return
- 11-Awake
- 12-Asleep
- 13-Reunion
- 14-Avoidance
- 15-Cabin
- 16-Jones
- 17-Tattoo
- 18-Irrevocable
- 1
- 2
- 3
Chapter 1

The expanse of ocean which stretched out before the Dragonfly appeared endless; the horizon extended for ever, and there was hardly a breath of air to fill the sails of the small craft.
They had been at sea for almost a month now, the last four days spent drifting excruciatingly slowly in these almost becalmed waters. The crew, which now included several native-speaking sailors who had previously sailed with their new ship, was hot and listless, discharging their duties with the minimum of physical effort required to successfully comply.
Barbossa alone seemed alert and engaged in his task as he stood behind the wheel, one hand lightly resting against the spokes although very little direction was needed with them floating so slowly East. His narrowed eyes scanned the distant horizon, looking for anything out of the ordinary. It seemed unlikely he would find it; they had not encountered any other living creature in a fortnight - even birds rarely flew this far from land. A porpoise playing in the waves had been their last sight of company, but that had been days ago and many leagues behind them.
It was perhaps inaccurate to say that only the Captain was alert today. Standing in the bow, glaring fiercely in the same direction as Barbossa, Elizabeth�s body may have been still but her mind was racing. Tia Dalma had not indicated it would take this long to reach their destination, and Elizabeth was ready to blame the priestess for everything from the absence of wind to the lack of a port to restock their supplies, to the smell of Cotton�s feet. The longer they sailed without getting anywhere, the more she worried that they would be too late, and she was barely able to hold on to the hope which had followed Tia�s declaration that they could resurrect Jack.
And with that hope faltering, the despair and guilt of reality were leeching back into her grief-stricken heart. What were they thinking anyway? Everyone knew that the world was round, not flat. So how could you possibly come to World�s End? You would just circumnavigate a giant circle and end up back where you started. Which was somewhat how Elizabeth felt most days; as if she was merely going around in circles, covering the same ground of guilt, loss and desolation - and always she ended up standing here, shying away from her fiancé and staring out to sea searching for something that was never there.
Barbossa seemed to have some uncharacteristic and old-fashioned ideas about women performing duties onboard a ship; he had first displayed these when kidnapping Elizabeth to lift the curse, at which time he insisted on outfitting her in a plundered gown. On this voyage, he did not have the authority to insist that she discard her boy�s clothing and dress more appropriately, but he often twitched with disapproval as she moved around the deck with her sword belt, pistol and unbound hair, like any one of the men. However, he could refuse her access to areas of the ship he deemed unsuitable, and she was therefore prohibited from night watch, any duty which took place more than five feet higher than deck level, and confined mainly to assisting Cotton in the galley, or swabbing the deck - which occupations Barbossa seemed to think suitable for the female sex.
Initially, Elizabeth had been the only one to accept that they had a need for Barbossa on this journey, and for the first week out to sea, it had been necessary to soothe a lot of incipient arguments between the Captain who had been thrust upon them and a crew which was by turns distrusting and afraid of him. By the time a wary accord was attained, Elizabeth had found herself maneuvered into her present duties and in favour of maintaining the fragile peace, she did not press to be treated more like one of the crew. Although in truth, her lighter obligations gave her far too much time to fret about how slowly things were progressing.
Jack had been lost to them for near two months now, and she feared that the longer it took them to reach their destination, the lower their chances would be for success. Tia Dalma had explained it thus: Jack was not actually dead dead, but in a kind of limbo state, where those who had been taken before their time awaited a judgment by some higher Power as to whether their timeline should be adjusted to account for this early arrival in the afterlife.
Although she had not actually spoken the words, Elizabeth suspected Tia�s inference was that people who been subject to betrayal by those close to them, made up a hefty portion of those stuck in this limbo state. This was entirely too painful for Elizabeth to contemplate for it said to her that Jack had actually been intended to survive the attack on the Black Pearl all along, and that she had in fact rewritten his destiny. The longer they drifted out here in the watery wilderness, the more she worried that those all-powerful Powers would come to a decision on Jack before they reached him, and dispatch him off into the next life and they would be too late.
In a rum-induced haze of self pity, she had expressed these thoughts to Barbossa several nights back, wandering out onto deck after a pitiful dinner of ship�s biscuit and some very stale hardened cheese. She had expected the Captain to immediately send her back below deck in accordance with his declaration of her boundaries, but he had surprised her by welcoming her amicably enough as he stood behind the wheel watching as the sun descended to their backs, although he did spare a scowl for her breeches and loose cotton shirt, covered only by an unbuttoned waistcoat.
�What can I do for you, Miss Turner?� he asked, �I cannot believe that it is a desire for my company that tears you away from your shipmates this evening.� Despite numerous complaints, Barbossa absolutely refused to call her by her proper name. Miss Turner she had been when she first boarded the Black Pearl to negotiate for the fate of Port Royal, and in his eyes she would be Miss Turner for ever.
�It�s Miss Swan,� she muttered again without much expectation of success, in much the same way she had used to urge Will to call her Elizabeth. �I want to talk about our heading.�
�Ah, the crew has elected you spokes�.woman, have they?� Barbossa asked thoughtfully. �I must say I have been expecting a delegation these few days past.�
�No,� Elizabeth said, slurring her words slightly and swaying suddenly with the roll of the ship, �they have not. I want to speak to you for my own peace of mind -�
�Really,� Barbossa interrupted thoughtfully. �It seems from what I have observed recently, that peace of mind is an elusive commodity for yourself these days, Miss Turner. In fact, I would venture to say - unattainable in truth. You suffer the loss of Jack Sparrow far more deeply than any other on this ship, and I have to ask myself why that is. We all know what I did to wrong Jack; Pintel and Ragetti also - though under my command. The others just need someone to follow. Your Mister Turner wants the Black Pearl back far more than he cares to see Jack again. But as for you, lassie - what suffering have you endured which dulls the light in your soul, hmmm?�
�The world is round,� Elizabeth stated aggressively, interrupting Barbossa. She had come here explicitly to complain about this fact and she was not ready to be sidetracked. �How can there be an end to it if it is a big sphere? How do I know you are taking us to the right place - how do I know we won�t be too late if we get there?� She sniffed, the unusual amount of rum she had indulged in making her weepy. �What if Jack�s waiting and he thinks I�m not coming?� She finished with a catch in her voice.
�Ah,� Barbossa said with enlightenment, �well, Miss Turner. I see no profit in you worrying about that yet. Indeed, according to dear Tia Dalma, compared to resurrecting my own good self, snatching Jack Sparrow back from the limbo area should be a child�s play. Just as soon as we get there.�
�Captain,� Elizabeth hissed, her inebriated tongue choosing this point to make an issue of. �Captain Jack Sparrow. And you should remember that better than most, you - you mutineer!�
�Aye, that I am,� Barbossa agreed mildly. �Or was. There�d be no point in denying it now, would there? But I do wonder then, Miss Turner, what credentials make you Jack�s deliverance��
�Elizabeth?� Will�s hesitant voice broke into their exchange, which may have been a good thing given the direction of the conversation. He nodded curtly to the older man, �Barbossa,� he acknowledged briefly. He refused to name the other man Captain, being of the opinion either he or Gibbs should have taken that role, with the resurrected pirate acting as a navigator or guide or in some such ambiguous non-authority capacity.
�Are you all right, Elizabeth?� he asked, and unspoken in the query were the words; you�ve been drinking rum again?

�I�ll be fine, Will,� Elizabeth answered impassively. It was her standard response these days to any inquiry about her health, her feelings or her lack of appetite. She turned from her study of the ocean ahead and tried to smile at her fiancé.
Will had never blatantly come out and asked what had happened on the deck of the Black Pearl before she went down, but the sudden harshness which had entered into his voice and expression as they rowed away from the doomed ship, let Elizabeth know that he had either seen or suspected that something was amiss with Jack�s sudden selfless sacrifice.
If Elizabeth had actually been allowing herself to think about - it, she would probably have preferred to believe that Will saw her kiss Jack, than that he knew she had deliberately and cold-bloodedly chained him up and left him behind to die. She rather suspected that there could be no recovering from the discovery that your beloved was, in fact, a murderer.
But as Elizabeth did not allow herself to think about the reasons for Will�s cooling attitude - for that way lay madness - she chose to respond to him in the same manner he approached her; with a distant fondness and formality that was reminiscent of how they treated each other before the advent of undead pirates, cursed Aztec gold and a certain Captain into their lives.
Will grimaced inside at Elizabeth�s new repetition of that assurance he did not believe, and was coming to despise. His own feelings confused and annoyed him; his fear and unease over the enormous change in Elizabeth was not allayed in the slightest by her unconvincing platitudes.
He did not know Elizabeth any more; he had left behind a lady in the cells of Port Royal, and when they had been reunited at last he had found in her place a sailor (he refused to entertain the notion that he had in fact found a pirate). Elizabeth had worn borrowed men�s clothes when Norrington and the crew of the Dauntless fought with Barbossa�s accursed crew, but he had always supposed that was an unavoidable consequence of being marooned on a deserted island in only her undergarments. It had never occurred to him that she might come to prefer this manner of dress.
When they had practiced sword fighting (and that had been at Elizabeth�s request too, come to think of it) she had also worn borrowed breeches and still it did not occur to him that it was for any reason other than expediency.
When he had swum ashore on Isla Cruces, and come upon the most unlikely trio of conspirators he could ever have imagined, events had proceeded so fast that there was barely time to wonder how on earth Elizabeth and Jack and a radically changed James Norrington could have ended up together, before Elizabeth had greeted and promptly forgotten all about him, and he was once again swept up in the whirlwind that was Captain Jack Sparrow.
Will had expected Elizabeth to be almost as excited as he was about the reunion with his father; he probably had not chosen the ideal moment to break the news to her, but he had nonetheless been quite surprised when she instantly turned out of his arms and marched over to Jack, berating him for once again distorting the truth to suit himself, yet unable to entirely hide the hurt and disappointment in her voice, whilst at the same time completely excluding Will from their oddly intimate argument.
He came to suppose later, during the endless hours he had spent alone with nothing but his thoughts for company on this crazed rescue voyage, that this was probably the moment when he should have begun to notice that Elizabeth was no longer the same girl she had been when he left to do Beckett�s bidding.
But Elizabeth was even more changed now, so much so that he hardly recognised her. On Isla Cruces, she still retained the sparkle and vivacity which had always drawn Will to her, even if it was wrapped up in a more unconventional package. The Elizabeth straining to smile at him today bore little resemblance to either of those other girls who had carried her name.
This Elizabeth was quiet and introspective; her eyes had lost their innocence and she wore her sorrow like a shroud around her. Yet it was not only in her temperament that she was altered; Tia Dalma had returned Elizabeth to the crew that night of Barbossa�s reappearance a tarnished woman.
Elizabeth wouldn�t speak of the spells and enchantments which Tia had cast upon her to aid in their search, but there were some things which were physical and could not be concealed. Will had been unable to prevent a moan of horror at the sight of his fiancée emerging from Tia Dalma�s hut to join the rest of the crew as they hauled supplies aboard a small frigate named the Dragonfly which was apparently to be their conveyance for the journey.
The witch had tattooed a rune on each of Elizabeth wrists, and on her forehead just at the hairline. Will sprang forward enraged, and ready to attack the older woman for disfiguring Elizabeth�s glorious skin; there would be no way of ever hiding the marks, effectively ostracizing her from her previous standing in society. To top it all in Will�s opinion, Tia Dalma had restyled Elizabeth�s hair in a scandalous imitation of Jack�s, weaving beads and shells and feathers into braids around her face.
Elizabeth had not reacted to Will�s rage and it was left to Gibbs and Barbossa to restrain him from charging back into Tia�s shack and demanding an explanation. By way of clarification, Elizabeth had offered only that according to Tia, the runes would buy them an audience with the guardians of Jack�s prison, and that the decoration of her hair was another symbolic gesture of commitment to the rescue.
Elizabeth did not share that the meaning of the runes on her wrists represented binding, the one on her forehead - repentance. And she certainly did not mention that there had been a fourth tattoo inked directly over Elizabeth�s heart, which Tia declared was the link through which she would have to call Jack back from the afterlife, and was the runic symbol for love. By the time Tia Dalma was finished with her, she had delved into every black secret preying on Elizabeth�s soul, and engraved each one into her skin for eternity. She was to wear the evidence of her crimes for the world to see, and she was fiercely proud of the opportunity to do so, if it meant that Jack would no longer be gone.
Will�s appearance that night had deflected Barbossa�s questioning away from Elizabeth�s crime, and she had been careful not to be alone with the resurrected Captain since. His questions made her uncomfortable, and called into doubt her ability to perform the colossal undertaking Tia Dalma had entrusted her with. Barbossa seemed so nonchalant towards their commission, in spite of his inglorious past, that Elizabeth became even more morose when faced with the enormity of what lay ahead of them. Because they could not fail. She could not. Failure meant never seeing Jack again, and that was not a future she could endure to live in.
�Miss Turner,� Barbossa�s clipped voice interrupted her musings. �Best come down from there and call up the rest of the crew. You�ll all be wanting to see this - we�re getting close now!�
- 1
- 2
- 3
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Deliverance