Fight For The Right

54~ Heady Tonic

*Third Person*

Davy Jones frowned and turned, to be met with the sight of Jack holding a heart in one hand with his shortened sword hovering over it. Jones' eyes widened and he looked at Jack's feet, where the chest lay open. Elizabeth and Will both heaved sighs of relief and another emotion they couldn't name as they made eye contact. They both prayed in the back of their minds that Jack would end this there and now.

Jack grinned at Jones - well, more like his famous smirk. "Heady tonic, holding life and death in the palm of one's hand."

Jones' expression turned to a deep scowl. "You're a cruel man, Jack Sparrow," he spat.

Jack's expression turned rather serious. "Cruel is a matter of perspective."

"It is?" Then without warning Jones whirled around and plunged the blade of his sword into Will's heart, making Will cry out, Elizabeth gasped and Jack looked shocked, clearly having not predicted that to happen. Jones pushed the blade down as far as it would go, Will gasping in pain, before he let go and turned to Jack, chuckling at the decision the pirate captain now had to make.

Stab the heart himself or save his friend?

Elizabeth and Jack were not the only ones affected by this.

At the exact moment Will was stabbed, back onboard the Black Pearl, Maddie suddenly buckled over as a weird sort of pain ripped through her chest, and she felt as if she herself had been run through with a sword. She collapsed to the deck, the rain falling on her face and the sounds of the battle echoing in her ears. With a yell, Grapple ran over to her, trying to get her up whilst he checked her for injuries, but his words were nothing but an echo in Maddie's ears, as all she was focused on was a mysterious yet familiar voice whispering in her head.

"You have a dangerous and twisted path ahead of you, Madison Swann." Images flashed through her mind, of when Maddie first set out on the Black Pearl with her sister and fought to gain the same respect as the pirates. "Do not let your anger overpower you, do not let your heart rule your instinct and do not eat instinct rule your heart." An image, a memory, of her experience in the Hurricane and Jeffrey's death, which absolutely destroyed her. Being 'sold' to Davy Jones and finding her way to Isla Cruces. "The sea will bring back to you what you've lost..." A memory of her reunion with Grapple. "... but you won't be able to save the one you care for most."

All of her possible memories with Will - from him first arriving in Port Royal to the moment he'd swung across to the Dutchman - flashed in Maddie's mind, including her memories of sword fighting with him in the blacksmith's shed. Tears leaked from the corners of her eyes as Tia Dalma's words sunk in.

"Trust your instinct, follow your heart," the voice continued. "The past will return to the present, and you will face the hardest text yet."

Maddie did not know what that last part meant, but now she understood the rest of it, at least a lot more than she had upon first hearing it. But one question was spinning through her mind as she lay on the deck in a daze: Why me? Why did all of this have to revolve around her life and her choices?

Grapple continued to shake her gently by the shoulders, calling her name ver and over and growing more and more desperate. Maddie blinked once, twice, then slowly sat. She ignored Grapple and started over in the direction of the Flying Dutchman, the tingling pain still in her chest, and even though she didn't know what was happening on the other ship, she had a chilling suspicion, and that angered her.

Will was like her brother - if he was married to her sister now, he technically was. If he was hurt, then there would be hell to pay. Her blue-grey eyes flashed with such anger and grief that surprised Grapple, and she leapt to her feet, holding her sword tightly in her hand. With a battle cry that send chills down her spine, Maddie charged back into the fight with such ferocity and power and strength that Gibbs, Pintel and Ragetti were a bit stunned.

Back on the Dutchman, everyone was still in a daze. "Will?" Elizabeth shakily walked over to Will and knelt beside him, cupping his face in her hands. "Look at me! Stay with me!" She cried. "You're alright."

Where Will had left him, Bootstrap looked at the knife and seemed to come to his senses a bit. His eyes widened. "William?" He whispered. "My son." With a yell he launched himself at Jones, giving Jack enough of a distraction to think this through. He glared down at the still beating heart in his hand, his eyes lighting up and he looked more than stressed as he tried to make up his mind.

Bootstrap was getting really into beating the crap out of Jones, who eventually overpowered him and fought back. Jack stared back and forth between the heart and Will and Elizabeth, who was growing frantic. "Will? Will? Look at me," she begged. "Look at me!"

Jones overpowered Bootstrap and held him down, ready to kill him as he fixed with him a look of hate. "You will not forestall my judgment," he growled, raising his sword at the same time someone else raised theirs.

With a gasp Jones froze and seemed to wither and curl in on himself as he turned, noticing how Jack was crouched beside Will and Elizabeth, the sword stabbed through the heart... but it was not Jack's hand wrapped around the hilt.

It was Will's.

Elizabeth and Jack looked at Jones, who gasped again and whispered, "Calypso," before stumbling backwards and falling overboard into the center of the maelstrom below.

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Hey readers! Sorry for the few days wait - school is a pain. As I have quarter exams in three weeks, I am updating now to make up for it. However, I am sorry I had t o post the majority of the fight in three parts. ON my laptop it was one whole chapter but it wouldn't let me post it like that; apparently it was TOO long.

I am writing the last few chapters, so I hope I won't keep you waiting for too long.

Enjoy, and feedback is always welcomed and appreciated!

Thanks,

J xxx