014

Jack Sparrow

"Where's the heart?" I exclaimed in shock. Seeing that the chest was empty was not doing my heart any good. The last hope of escaping this fate had just been drowned in a little bit of despair, as someone had stolen the heart from the chest.

"Doesn't matter," tanya said matter-of-factly, turning to Mr. Gibbs. "Get this ship moving. We've got to get out of here."

but he looked off towards the current battle between the French ship of war and the Flying Dutchman. "I'm not sure we can escape through the gap."

Tanya looked over at them, and I did the same before I said, "They do appear to be busy beating the hell out of each other. We might have a chance of at least buying ourselves a few days if we move now."

"Hi, sir, but what if... what if they're not the only things out there?"

"I know," realizing his point. The Kraken could be out there somewhere. If we tried to make it for deep water, the sea beast would grab us, and we'd be trapped, unable to make our way any further away from the battle.

"Perhaps we should go with the other option, then," Tanya said, drying my eyes to her.

"What other option?" I asked.

"We go on the offensive right now. The French ship of war is fighting the Flying Dutchman, and the Flying Dutchman, well, seems to be holding itself together at the moment. It's taking a beating, and we go for a side swipe on the other side, damage it enough, perhaps it'll sink. What will the end result of that be?"

"Most likely they'll refloat in a few days and come after us," Mr. Gibbs said matter-of-factly, which got a nod from Tanya. But she said something else.

"Yes, very floater, but what will they use to re-float her? What will they have to use to pull her from the bottom of the sea?"

"The Kraken," I said, getting the idea she was going at. "We think the ship might be too busy having a crack, and we float her to come after us, giving us a few days of a head start."

"The Pearl is the fastest ship in the Caribbean," Tanya said. "We just need to get far enough away from them that we have a chance to figure out our next move, track down the French aristocrat who stole Davy Jones' heart from our grasp."

"We better move now, then," Mr. Gibbs said. "I don't think that French warship can take much more of that beating."

There was a nod, and everyone got to work, training the ship about and heading to the starboard side of the Dutchman as fast as possible. There was a small gap there that we could make through some rocks, and if we put enough rounds down range into the side of the ship, perhaps we could pull this off. But again, there was open water through that passageway, and at the bare minimum, we might be able to run the Dutchman. Maybe it's worth a shot.

"Full speed ahead!" I called as we made for that gap, guns being prepared. "Maybe we'd get lucky, Come on, Old girl," I said, holding tight to the wheel as we made for that gap, and then the ship stopped.

With a sudden jerk, everyone was forced forward as the momentum of the ship was kept in their bodies but not on the ship. Several people were injured, and tentacles started to rise all around the vessel, telling me exactly the worst possible outcome.

"Defend the ship!" Gibbs called as the tentacles rose into the air all around us, one whipping out to grab a sailor who was on the ropes before pulling him down into the deeps, down into Davy Jones' Locker. More tentacles rose, more people were dragged away. Those who could get weapons got them and got to work trying to fight off the creature. I drew my blade, but I really wasn't sure what to do. We were trapped.

As I watched the battle going on with the French warship, I hoped maybe it would strike some sort of blow against the undead captain of the Dutchman. Unfortunately, I saw no luck in that. Instead, the French warship finally stopped firing; its guns went silent as it started to list heavily to one side. The Dutchman had won the combat, and the guns that had been firing on it were now facing up into the sky. Soon it completely rolled over; it would be no help. And what was it about to unfurl?

The heavily damaged Dutchman came alongside the Pearl. The captain of the decimated ship looked across toward us, smoking on his pipe as he called out, "Wow, Jack, you led me on an interesting adventure today. You've wasted everyone's time, and now it's time to return what is not yours. Give me the chest."

I blinked, wondering if I was really this lucky. Tilting my head, I said, "Yes, I do have the chest," and clearing my throat before adding, "Of course, I had to give it back to you. I would require you to make our debt go away; otherwise, I would have no reason not to just drive my blade into your heart."

"Ha, would you really do that, Jack? The Dutchman requires a captain. Driving that blade into the heart means you must take the place of me, chain your soul to my mission to help those who die at sea, crossing to the afterlife. Take away the freedom that you so sail for with the Black Pearl. Would you really doom yourself to my curse?" The captain of the Dutchman leaned forward, looking at me. That's what he was trying to find, some sort of weakness in my resolve.

Of course, since I didn't have the heart, I could simply ignore that conversation point and simply say, "Yes, of course. My choices are death and service or a curse where I could theoretically have enough freedom to find another way out of it if I so choose. There's always legends of curse-breaking items across the seas, and I'm surprised you haven't gone looking for one yourself."

"Ba, why would I break the curse that I like?" the captain said, raising his hands up in the air but lowering them, saying, "Fine, Jack, your debt is cleansed. Hand over the chest."

I held up my hand, checking and seeing that the black spot had vanished, confirming his words. That was good. Without the black spot, he couldn't follow me. Now, the real problem was, as soon as I handed over that chest, he'd realize I didn't have the heart. Granted, he wouldn't be able to track me, but if he didn't check right away, maybe I had a chance. Maybe he'd let the ship go.

Looking to Tanya, I said, tossing the chest, "Tanya, look at me with an invisible eye," but nodded, grabbing the chest and throwing it over the side. It landed on the Dutchman's deck, and the crew gathered around it, hauling it up over to their captain.

"Mind releasing us now? We have a very busy schedule," I called, which got a laugh from Davy Jones. As he simply said, "Our debt is cleared, which means I won't be taking your soul, but I will be taking the Pearl back."

At that statement, the ship heaved downwards as the Kraken started to pull it down with some force.

"Oh, and I would try and escape the vessel as quickly as you can, Jack. Anyone on that ship when it goes down with the waves will be trapped in the locker to wallow their days in the endless void at the bottom of the sea."

"Thanks for that," I said, rather annoyed, calling "abandon ship." Even though it hurt me deeply to do so, I just got her back, and I was forced to abandon her. That was just too much for me in some aspects. But there would be other chances to bring her back. I knew it. I did it once, granted it nearly resulted in this situation. I could do it again. I would find a way to bring the Black Pearl back; I just needed to get off now and survive.

Men started to heave a boat into the water, and as they did, tentacles would still attack them, which told me that the Dutchman's captain was not being forgiving at all. I did notice that the Dutchman started to sail away; perhaps the captain had to check the chest yet. This might work out, I thought, as I rushed down to the lower deck, getting one last good look at the Black Pearl. Will called over from a nearby boat.

"Come on, Jack, we got to go." Without hesitation, I started moving in his direction before a tentacle reached out and grabbed at my ankle. I slashed it free myself, but another came at me. It was blasted away by Tanya, who floated in with a pair of guns in each hand and another pair floating behind her, prepared to fire as soon as she needed them.

"Get on board the boat, Jack. I'll hold these things back." "Fine," I audited; she could fly, she could handle this, I thought, moving quickly and jumping on board the little boat, turning, expecting to see her coming over the side any moment. Instead, I saw the mess of the Pearl, broken and falling onto the deck of the ship.

"Where's Tanya?" Will asked as the vessel continued to sink into the water.

"She was right behind me," I said as the vessel's deck finally became flat against the water and held there for a second, revealing Davy Jones standing on my deck right in front of the mast that had broken. His blade thrust through the back of Tanya; she was looking confused, holding onto the blade that was puncturing through her chest. He must have teleported through the wood or something; that caught her by surprise.

"You cheated me, Jack," Jones said. "I don't like being cheated, but I think we can come to an agreement. This will help pay for that sheet." Davy Jones withdrew his blade and tossed Tanya into the open hold of the ship, kicking the wooden door shut on her arm before walking away into the wood. The vessel being pulled the rest of the way beneath the waves.

"That bastard," Will said, and I was of the same opinion. If I could reach him, I'd shove my sword through his chest, but at this moment, I couldn't. So then I watched with horror as my ship, the Black Pearl, and Tanya were pulled beneath the waves, lost to the locker, well, lost for now.

"Captain, what do we do?" Gibbs called from another boat. I looked at the water, wondering how to respond for a moment before making up my mind.

"We make for Cuba. We need to speak with Ms. Tia Dalma again about our options."

"How are we going to do that?" a pirate called, drawing my eyes to him, and he said, "We have rowboats, and we're kind of a little distance from Cuba."

I turned back to look at the island and said, "That French war vessel was coming here for some reason. It's most likely going to be another to pick up the aristocrat who has the heart in the first place."

Not to mention, the beaches on this island are not terrible. There could be another boat on this island somewhere that we can use. One that will get us what we need. I'm determined to get back to Tia Dalma. Even if I have to cobble together a boat from the remnants of trees on this island, we will figure out a way to do that.

"Oh yeah, Captain," Gibbs said, turning before he stopped, seeming to listen before saying, "Music."

I blinked before listening. I could hear a distinct musical tone in the air. "Hell, I found it first," I said before my eyes widened, looking at the sea. I saw something gold flashing off the waves and coming in this direction.

"Oh no, it's Fine," I commented.

"Who?" Will asked, sounding confused.

"Tanya's mother and my ex," I commented. "What's going on?" Understanding dawned on Will.

"Right, I remember this now. Oh, this isn't going to end well, is it?"

"I doubt it could get worse than it is right now," I commented truthfully, nodding in my head.

Admiral James Norrington

Everything hurts, although I guess that's what it's supposed to feel like when you get shot. That usually happens in the chest area. I would assume that, but again, I've never been shot before, and all that for nothing. I denied them their prize, but at least I've been a success.

Oh, where the heck was I? I opened my eyes and saw I was aboard some sort of ship. The walls above me confirmed that I was lying in some sort of hammock, strung between two poles, gently swaying with the waves. That was at least normal. Carefully, I tried to extract myself from the hammock. A blanket had been pulled over me the other way. As I sat up, looking out across what appeared to be a small library with a comfy chair at one end, looking out at the waves behind the ship, it must be the aristocrat's ship, I thought. The French woman must have grabbed me and pulled me aboard her ship before leaving. That meant I had succeeded in preventing the pirates from getting the hearts. Now I had to deal with the fact that the French now had me prisoner and the heart. That wasn't exactly good, I thought, standing up and immediately feeling everything wrong.

My balance was off, like my sea legs had been taken from me. It took a bit to finally get myself standing properly, and I took a step and another until I made it to the chair, putting my hands on it to steady myself. Looking down, I expected to see just some maps on the nearby table to tell me the general direction that the ship was heading. That was not what I just saw, though. Oh, yes, the maps were there, but at the bottom of my vision, there was something that was not usually there. Lowering my face, I saw a large protrusion in my uniform, two protrusions on my chest. "What?" I said in confusion, raising a hand to my throat as it sounded off.

"Ahh, good, you're awake," came the accented voice of Saint Germain, and she appeared behind me, walking steadily as if this was not the first time she had been aboard a ship.

"It was touch and go there for a bit. Your body was completely wrecked. The heart was pumping, and the valve was cut. You were going to expire at the rate it was going. Well, we can't exactly let that happen, especially considering you had just successfully handed me what I needed."

"What are you talking about?" I said, still hearing a strange voice from my mouth.

She smiled and reached into a nearby bag, pulling out what appeared to be a small mirror and holding it up so that I could see myself.

"Emerald Norrington, and I'm afraid your body was too previously injured to heal, so I did the best thing I could and transferred your soul into a more perfect vessel."

My jaw slowly dropped as I saw a female face doing the same, one that did bear some resemblance to me but was not me. It could pass for my sister, I guess. Oh dear God.

"You are a witch," I said in shock, looking at her and getting a shake of her head, saying, "Not a witch. All this comes from science. In one aspect, I'm an alchemist."

"And with the form you currently have, I could teach you how to be an alchemist as well if you wish. Either way, I think I've done my duty in giving you another chance at life. As a thank you for this," she said, holding up a small bag that I assumed the heart was inside of.

I shook my head, saying, "I cannot let you take that heart to the French government. That belongs to the British."

She chuckled and shook her head before saying, "This isn't for the French government. This is for me and my friends in the Illuminati. We have no need nor wish to support the French government with access to Davy Jones's abilities. That would be rather unfair, plus it gets in the way of what we intend to do."

"And what do you intend to do?" I asked, since I was trapped here. I might as well ask the right questions so I can report to the British what happened. Would they even take my word as truth? I was not the man they were going to be expecting. Now I was someone else entirely. Probably will just have to do my best to do my duty to my nation.

"Oh, that's simple. We wish to retrieve something from the bottom of the sea that was lost to us. We don't have the resources to do it ourselves, but with the help of our new technical friend, we should be able to do it as soon as we make contact with him."

"And this something is not a danger to the English crown, is it?" I asked, pushing for the security of my people.

"Oh, not really. I mean, it is a device that will help us determine the proper date and time to pick when the stars and celestial objects align. With that, we will be able to create a being of such power that we can overcome the oppression of the old order and rebuild society as it was meant to be."

"Right," I said, shaking my head before saying, "Well, if you have what you wanted and there's no chance I could convince you to hand that over to me, to what exactly are you planning to do with me?"

"We'll be sailing by Port Royal on our way to Haiti. We'll drop you off there. What you do with your life past that point, I don't know. You're welcome to join the Illuminati. It is an order of like-minded individuals who wish to discover and create a world that is free of the oppression of authoritarians. Then build a true free society. Or you may rejoin your people in Port Royal, though I will say your new body will probably be an upgrade in the long term for you."

"What do you mean?" I said, attempting to fold my arms across my chest and finding it difficult instead of having to lower them beneath the new protrusions.

"As I said, that body is closer to perfection than your old one. It will not age or waste away. You have, I guess you could say, near immortality, as long as you don't take a severe and deadly wound or overexert your energy capacities by practicing magic or alchemy. If you go too hard on that, you could fade away into nothingness."

"Wait, I thought you said magic doesn't exist, the whole point that you're an alchemist."

"No, I said I'm an alchemist. I didn't say magic doesn't exist. The best way to explain this for someone who's not in the know is to imagine energy like a river. You can put a water wheel on it and create, well, energy when you attach that water wheel to produce varies. There are also different versions of water wheels, different ways of using the energy created. So you could look at magic and alchemy, and several other fields, including science, as just different ways of using the natural energy flowing in the world within our own bodies. In some cases, the longer you live, the more energy you also build up, as you could even use your own memories as catalysts for magic, alchemy, spellcraft, whatever you wish to call it."

"This is way over my pay grade," I finally said, putting my hand up on my forehead and rubbing it. I felt her put her hand on my shoulder, saying, "There, there, dear. You'll get used to your new life. And if you decide to join us in our search for the Divine, you can always rejoin us at a later time."

"Sure, I'll consider it," I said, lying, as I was more trying to figure out what to do about this current situation that would benefit me and England. I was not going to let the French have control of Davy Jones if I could help it. But what could I do in this situation? What could—oh, well, there wasn't a fool and that wasn't I, clearing my throat. I said, "Perhaps you're right. Perhaps I should learn about this alchemy thing. If I'm going to be living for hundreds of years, I might as well have something to learn."

"Wonderful," she said, giving me a side hug before adding, "We're going to have to get you something of a proper dress when we reach Haiti. Can't have you walking around as a former naval captain. You'll draw too much notice, not to mention there's a rather noticeable hole there," she said, poking at the bullet hole in my clothing, still stained red with my former blood.

I tilted my head as I looked at it, seeing the pale skin beneath it and shaking my head, saying, "Why did you dress me up in the clothing of my dead body?"

"I thought it would be helpful in getting you to adjust. Waking up naked and confused is a traumatic thing. Waking up confused is a little bit easier on the mind. In the long term."

"Oh, thank you," I said, well happy to have her at least have some thought to my mental stability. Shaking my head, I took a breath, saying, "So when do I start learning this alchemy thing?"

"Soon, soon. First, we have to have you meet Adam Warlock and then have him determine if you are eligible to join the Illuminati. After that, you can start your training. Till then, you should just relax, sit in that panic over there, and just try to adjust to your new form. It's always a little bit traumatic, I'm told by the others who have had to undergo this."

I nodded, stepping carefully over to the hammock before asking, "Wait, Tanya implied that all of you were—I think the term used was gender-bent. Does that mean that you were formerly a man?"

The white-haired woman shook her head, saying, "No, I've been a girl since I was born, back in 56 BC, I think the correct term now is."

I blinked before saying, "Are you implying that you're 1,000 to nearly 2,000 years old?"

"I'm not implying anything," she simply said as she moved over to a desk I hadn't spotted, pulling out some paperwork and writing in it, possibly creating some sort of letters to be dropped off at Port Royal.

"I'm simply telling you that your new form has a long, long shelf life if you take care of your body well."

I was doomed to immortality. At least I had to be careful or I'd end up in some sort of war situation than death itself. Wow, I need to do what I could and get my hands on that heart and get back to English territory. Granted, it was a dangerous road, but I had to do what was necessary. I could not let these people have their hands on that heart for fear of what they would unleash on the English Navy if they got it in their minds that England stood in their way.

"Fine"

Sitting on my throne behind the captain's wheel, I looked down at Jack in annoyance. Several of my more muscular crewmates held him and his two highest-ranking officers in front of me.

"So let me get this straight. You cut a deal with the undisputed asshole of the sea, Davy Jones, to get a vessel from the bottom of the sea. You renamed her the Black Pearl, got yourself in trouble for decades, finally got your hands back on the Black Pearl after it had been mutinied away from you. But your time was up, and so Davy Jones came for you. You failed to defeat him, failed to stop his efforts, and ended up getting my daughter sent to Davy Jones's locker, where she will spend eternity wandering in a piece of the mental scape, slowly losing her mind until she has nothing but a crazed savage."

"I don't know about that. She's very strong-willed. I think she'll be fine down there for a little bit."

"For a little bit?" I said, giving him a death glare. "Are you implying that you have some plan to go down there and save her?"

"I wouldn't say we have a plan. We have a direction," Jack said in that way that almost made me want to slap him for being the way he was. But the way he said it also gave me a little bit less anger towards him for getting Tanya killed in the first place because if there was one thing Jack was good at, it was keeping his word. He was basically giving his word to me right now that he would get Tanya out, although I would force that to be sure.

"Give me your word that you are planning to get Tanya out of Davy Jones's locker."

"My former love, I give you my word that Tanya will see the sun and once again be here in the world of the living. I don't know when that'll be, but it is the plan."

I sighed, shaking my head before finally saying, "Well, that's at least a step in the right direction."

Getting up from my seat, I walked forward, looking him directly in the eyes before punching him in the gut once. There was an oof sound from his crew before I grabbed him by the front of his shirt and slapped him hard across the face, leaving a small cut from my golden gauntlet.

"All right, I think that'll do for your punishment on this one, Jackie boy. So, you have a direction. Why didn't you share this direction with me on how you plan to get my daughter out of Davy Jones's locker, and I'll take you there so we can get to work?"

"We," he said, sounding a little bit stunned, probably from the whole slap. I considered slapping again, but violence never worked on him.

"Yes, we. Not letting my daughter's fate be in your hands, thank you very much. I put a lot of work into raising her, and I'm not going to let that investment be destroyed by your incompetence."

"Well, we need to go to Miss Tia Dalma's house in Cuba. Are you familiar with her?"

"The sea witch? Yes, I'm familiar with her. I've had my dealings with her in the past. I waved my hand to any of my crewmates, saying, "Prepare the ship for sale. We make for Cuba at full speed."

"Yes, ma'am," he ran over to a set of drums and started to pound them in the code that told the rest of the crew that could hear it it was time to put all sails ahead, and they got to work making my command a reality.

Turning back to Jack, I said, "How did this all fail so spectacularly? Usually, you don't let things go this bad. Lame, Jack. You're losing your touch."

"That's not really my fault. We didn't know the French would be here, nor that the French aristocrat would interfere with our operations to retrieve the heart. If they hadn't done that, we'd be back on the Pearl, celebrating a victory most likely. I mean, there was a small chance that things would not have gone well, but we would have had a better chance if we had the heart. I might have lost the Pearl, but Tanya would have been alive."

"Oh, that's what happens when you underestimate the French's capability to mess up your plans. And you have a 50/50 win record for a reason," I said with a shrug, looking out into the sea. "What aristocrat was in the way, anyway? There's not many that could muster a full French warship to their command."

"I think her name was Saint Germain, the younger of the two officers," Jack said, causing my eyes to turn towards him with absolute anger.

"St Germain, the damn Roman from the Illuminati."

"Roman, bitch, jackass," I turned on him, putting my hand under his chin as I said, "Yes, Roman. She's 2,000 years old, one of my former students, in fact. Betrayed me and took a bunch of my teachings off to do her own thing with Adam Warlock, a failure of the divine's creation."

"That's a lot of information I do not understand," Jack said, which I sighed, releasing his face, saying, "Right, right. We stopped being a couple before I start getting those memories. Long story short, the

"We're at odds, both searching for ancient relics and equipment to make our dreams a reality."

"Who's winning, jackass?" I simply smiled and said to him, "The fact that the world's still spinning tells you that I'm winning, Jack. And the fact that they gathered the heart of Davy Jones in their hands means this might be a rather dangerous threat for the planet itself. So now I have two reasons to work with you – to get Tanya back, one, and to teach another daughter a valuable lesson on why you do not screw with my things."

"So, we have an accord then?" Jack said, raising his hands before him.

"Yes, Jack, we have an accord," I said, taking his hand and shaking it. "There, now it's sealed. Let's get to work."

"Wonderful. Oh, before we leave this island, there are a few teams of our men still on the island. Can we pick them up before we, well, go?"

I looked at Jack before saying, "Fine. We'll make a quick runabout. If they're near the coast, we'll pick them up; otherwise, they're on their own. Going to keep the code on this one, Jack."

"Of course, of course."