In the minutes that followed, as the ship rocked over the waves, Jack didn't make a single sound. And you, on the other hand, didn't even try to repeat your question. He wouldn't answer anyway, you thought.
Surely, the conversation with Barbossa just hadn't gone in his favor and he was upset. Or the conversation had been completely in his favor, but he just didn't feel like answering your question.
Anyway, your desire to talk to him had vanquished as well, and you snorted contemptuous when suddenly the shouting on deck became even louder.
In the next moment, the Pearl unexpectedly made a hard turn, throwing you and Jack across the cell. Startled and surprised, you tried to get back on your feet, unknowing what had just happened. And when you stood stable again, you realized that the atmosphere around you had completely changed.
For a few seconds the world stood still and held its breath. The running on deck, the screams, and the shouts suddenly subsided, stopped. Like the calm before the storm, everything went completely silent.
And then, a rain of bullets seemed to go down on the Pearl.
Their impact was louder than the greatest thunderstorm, louder than rumbles that sweep over the sea at night, louder than roars that deepen when pounding against a ship's bow.
Within moments, the Black Pearl was hit by bullets so strong the whole vessel shook and the wooden ground beneath you rocked and cracked. As fast as lightning they crashed into the ship's wall, smashing, and shattering the wood, leaving behind holes and leaks, striking the ship like an eagle, heading to the ground to catch a mouse.
But it wasn't just the Interceptor that had opened fire.
At the same time the ship with the black sails was hit, Captain Barbossa's infernal crew loaded their own cannons and fired them back at the Interceptor, merciless and without any consideration. The jolt that came from every bullet fired caused the entire ship to swing and made you unsteady on your feet again.
Confused and frightened, you clung to the bars of the prison cell next to you, so tightly that your knuckles were showing and your fingernails were digging into your flesh.
The situation hadn't even lasted a minute and yet your head was already in chaos. The loud noises and the bloodcurdling screams of dying men being hit by cannons or thrown overboard by their impact stressed you enormously and flooded your perception. Everything you saw, heard, and felt suddenly merged in your head and you could no longer think clearly. Your vision blurred in front of your eyes and you felt devastated as small, salty tears rolled down your cheeks and your breath started to hitch in your throat.
Only vaguely you could make out Jack in front of you, who was still crouching on the ground in front of the small hole in the ship's wall and watching everything. You wondered how he could stay this calm under these circumstances of horror and acute danger. How many times must he have experienced such terrible moments? Or was he just a brave man of great courage?
Shame overcame you when you realized how miserable and pathetic you on the other hand were standing there, clinging to iron bars with dear life, crying.
The shame overcame you when you realized how little courage you had, how fearful you were, how all your bravery had left you already.
In the end, you were probably still the little girl from all those years ago who had sneaked into the fortress of Nassau out of curiosity and self-interest and then had backed away in shock and fear when a pirate had stood in front of her.
Out of curiosity about Jack Sparrow, you had joined a crew of pirates and buccaneers and sailed with them to the Isla de Muerta. And now you were standing here, frozen in fear and crying like a little girl.
Maybe, your decision to leave Nassau had been a mistake. No matter how much you had wanted your freedom and a simple yet exciting life, you knew nothing but the life you've had in Nassau. You didn't know how to deal with this world that was foreign to you. No matter how much you loathed it, you were and remained a governor's daughter. You weren't prepared for anything else.
Embarrassed, you brought one hand up to wipe the treacherous tears out of your face, when a moment later, a movement suddenly snapped you out of your stupor and out of your thoughts a well.
Jack had turned away from his peephole with a sudden force, his eyes wide open, and now rushed towards you with a big step. With his strong arms he pulled you away from the iron bars you clung to and you screamed in shock as he dragged you to the flooded ground with him and pressed your face protectively into his chest.
A second later, the Pearl was hit by a bullet exactly in the place where you and Jack had been standing moments before.
You heard the wood crack as the bullet violently broke through the side of the vessel and sent some splinters flying through the cell. You screamed in fear, but surprisingly, you remained completely unscathed and unharmed: Jack's body, tense and hunched over you, had protected, and shielded you from the impact of the bullet, keeping you perfectly safe.
"Stop blowing holes in my ship!", Jack screamed in despair and turned his upper body towards the Interceptor, still holding your head to his chest.
Then he turned around again and, realizing he was still holding you close, let go of you with a surprised expression on his face. Nonetheless, he remained kneeling in front of you, as you were half sitting, half lying on the floor. Since he was supporting himself with his right hand holding onto the cell wall, his body was still bent over yours. You noticed his eyes on you as you were trying to calm yourself, but averted your gaze, letting it roam over his body instead.
After what had happened earlier, you weren't ready to face him yet, especially not in an intimate situation like this!
Your eyes wandered further and further downwards and suddenly you blushed madly and your eyes widened in embarrassment.
You had just realized that Jack was not only extremely close to you, but also kneeling right in between your widespread legs.
Red-faced you stared at his knees and didn't dare to look up.
Firstly, it had been his hands on your cheek, then your face against his chest and now this. You couldn't lie- you liked it. You liked having Jack so close to you, feeling his body, and touching him. But the frequency of physical contact and the intimacy between you in the last few hours overwhelmed you beyond measure.
Your uneasiness grew even more, as you felt how Jack moved his head and followed your eyes. And when you looked up again and your eyes met, you could see a large, lascivious grin, showing all of his golden teeth, on his face.
The sight of Jack and his grin made the familiar butterflies in your stomach flare up again and exciting sensation spread your whole body. You didn't want this feeling to end, ever, but at the same time you hated Jack for the way he made you feel.
It was unfair how fast he had made you fall for his charm.
But just as quickly as the situation had come, it disappeared again. Jack's eyes fell on a flask floating in the ankle-deep water next to you and then grabbed it.
Only then did you notice that instead of a big, heavy bullet you would have expected, there were just normal, everyday objects flooding around in your cell. You figured that the crew of the Interceptor had probably gotten creative when it came to filling the cannons.
The flask in Jack's hands, however, appeared to be empty, because after examining its contents without success, he lowered it in disappointment. He then leaned against the cell wall, completely breaking the physical contact between you, only to get up again and rush towards the door a second later.
You looked after him, confused. Like so often, you had no idea what was happening. Jack always seemed to be one step ahead of you with his incalculable and unpredictable actions. In general, everything that was happening around you seemed so grotesque, hectic, and chaotic to you and you suddenly felt a great desire to leave this small cell behind to unwind and finally be able to think clearly again.
Suddenly a cough snapped you out of your thoughts: Jack stood next to the open cell door and looked at you questioningly.
"Are you coming, love?"
You breathed out a sigh of relief: The impact of the cannon charge had blown away the lock on the door and now allowed you to escape from the cell.
You jumped out of the water and slipped through the door that Jack held open for you. Together, you rushed through the ship's belly and up the stairs towards the deck, from where blood-curdling screams and cannon fire could still be heard. You stayed close to Jack's side as you got to the end of the stairs and to the light that promised you freedom.
And when you finally stepped into daylight again and a salty sea breeze mixed with cannon fire surrounded your nose, you suddenly felt much freer and clearer in your head than the last few hours you had spent below deck with Jack.
But your brief moment of relief was shattered when you noticed the chaos around you: pirates running around with grappling hooks, swinging onto the Interceptor, aiming rifles and pistols at your crew members, pained screams, shouts.
It was like you had traded the chaos in your head for chaos around you.
"Come on, love", Jack muttered next to you, stepped towards the railing, and gracefully jumped onto it.
Then he held out his hand to you, indicating that you should follow him. Grateful for the help, you took his hand while the battle was still raging around you and let Jack pull you onto the railing, a little unsteadily and not nearly as elegantly as he had done it.
You tried your best to suppress the feelings that arose within you when you and Jack touched and attempted to keep some distance between you, but when you stood on the narrow railing and looked down at the unforgiving sea beneath you, you decided to hold on tightly to Jack's shirt with both hands instead.
The slippery railing certainly didn't bring back any fond memories for you and you would rather have your cheeks flushed by touching Jack than risk another fall into the sea.
Jack glanced at your hands clinging to his shirt and gave you a quick, cheeky grin, then grabbed hold of the rope of a pirate who was swinging towards you from the Interceptor, which resulted in the pirate flying further onto the deck, but his rope remaining in Jack's hand.
"Thanks very much", he said and threw a glance after him.
Then he turned back to you, grabbed you by your waist and pulled you close to him.
You knew exactly what Jack planned on doing and even though his plan made you feel uneasy, you just wanted to leave the Black Pearl and her captain as fast as possible as well. So, you removed your hands from his shirt and wrapped them around his neck.
"Hold on tight, lassie!", he whispered and swung with momentum over to the Interceptor.
You screamed loudly and clung to Jack even tighter as you flew over the water together, cannon fire and pistol shots below you.
But when you reached the Interceptor, Jack couldn't find a way to jump off directly and so, the two of you swung back to the Pearl, knocking a man backwards over the railing on your way. You shrieked again and this time Jack joined you: You whirled through the air together, screaming and you only stopped when you had, more or less, solid ground under your feet again.
"Jack, (y/n)!", Gibbs greeted you relieved as you finally jumped onto the Interceptor.
And you, for your part, had never been happier to see the old sailor's greasy and dirty face.