ok here's the next chapter. this one mainly follows Elizabeth, but there is a little blurp featuring Serenity and Jack as well.
E N J O Y !
Sao Feng’s Successor
Elizabeth stood in Sao Feng’s cabin, dressed like some sort of goddess. She was confused about why Sao Feng had wanted her, and terrified of what he planned to do to her.
“By this time tomorrow we will arrive at Shipwreck Cove, and you will be free… Calypso,” Sao Feng said.
“Excuse me?” asked Elizabeth.
“Not the name you fancy, I imagine, out of the many that you have, but it is what we call you.”
Elizabeth chose her words carefully.
“We being who?”
“You confirm it,” Sao Feng said triumphantly.
“Confirm what?” Elizabeth asked. “You’ve told me nothing.”
“The Brethren Court, not I, the first Brethren Court, whose position I would have opposed, bound you to human form, so the rule of the seas would belong to men and not—“
“…Me,” said Elizabeth, choosing to encourage Sao Feng’s belief that she was Calypso. If she revealed that she was not Calypso, Sao Feng might kill her.
“But one such as you should never be anything less than what you are,” said Sao Feng.
“Pretty speech from a captor,” said Elizabeth, trying to sound more like she imagined a goddess would. “But words whispered through prison bars lose their charm.”
“Can I be blamed for my efforts?” asked Sao Feng. “All men are drawn to the sea, perilous though it may be.”
“And some men offer desire as justification for their crimes,” Elizabeth spoke regally.
“I offer simply my desire.”
“And in return?” Elizabeth questioned.
“I would have your gifts, should you choose to give them,” Sao Feng declared.
“And if I should choose not?” asked Elizabeth.
Sao Feng grabbed her face and cried, “Then I will take your fury!”
He leaned in and kissed her roughly and passionately. Elizabeth could not deny that it was a good kiss, full of passion and desire, but it was not Will’s soft lips that were pressed against her own, and it made her feel disgusted.
She pushed Sao Feng away, just as a great blast rocked the ship. A cannonball burst through the side of the ship and through the captain’s cabin, sending splintered wood everywhere.
Sao Feng was flung against the far wall of the cabin as a large piece of wood skewered him through the chest.
Elizabeth, having not seen what happened to Sao Feng, called out for him. The reply sounded weak.
“Here… please.”
She rushed to him and kneeled beside him.
“With all nine pieces of eight, you will be free,” Sao Feng said, holding out his strange necklace to Elizabeth. “Take it! You are captain now. Go in my place to Shipwreck Cove.”
“Me?” Elizabeth asked incredulously.
How did he expect her to sail the ship and take the title as Pirate Lord of Singapore?
Suddenly, Tai Huang burst in.
“Captain the ship is taken, we cannot…” he stopped when he saw Sao Feng dying.
“Forgive me, Calypso…” Sao Feng said with his dying breath.
His eyes glazed over as he died and Elizabeth felt slightly guilty. Had she not pushed him away, perhaps he would not have been killed.
“What did he tell you?” asked Tai Huang, breaking her out of her thoughts.
“He made me captain,” Elizabeth replied, still shocked.
Tai Huang turned abruptly and ran outside, Elizabeth on his heels. As soon as they left the captain’s cabin, they were grabbed by two guards and dragged towards the deck, which is below the cabin.
“You are not my captain,” Tai Huang spat at Elizabeth.
Suddenly, a very familiar voice called out to Elizabeth from deck.
“Elizabeth?” James Norrington asked.
“James!” cried Elizabeth.
She shook off the arm of her guard and ran down to the former Commodore, who hugged her tightly.
“Thank God you’re alive!” said James. “Your father will be overjoyed to know you’re safe.”
Elizabeth froze, suddenly remembering whose side James was on.
“My father is dead,” she said frostily.
“No, that can’t be true, he returned to England,” said James.
“Did Lord Beckett tell you that?” asked Elizabeth, glaring.
James stared at her in silence.
Davy Jones appeared on deck and asked, “Who among you do you name as captain?”
"Captain?” asked Tai Huang. “Her!”
He and the rest of the crew pointed to Elizabeth. Davy Jones looked surprised.
“Captain?”
James took control of the situation.
“Tow the ship,” he said. “Put the prisoners in the brig, and the captain shall have my quarters.”
Elizabeth shot him an icy glare and said, “Thank you, but I prefer to remain with my crew.”
“Elizabeth, I swear I did not know,” James pleaded, but Elizabeth would hear none of it.
“Know what?” she snapped. “Which side you chose?”
She stepped back with her crew and continued, “Well now you do.”
~
“Bootstrap?” Elizabeth asked one of the crew members of the Dutchman.
He merely laughed and walked away, leaving Elizabeth clinging to the bars of the cell.
“Bootstrap?” Elizabeth refused to give up. “Bill Turner?”
Another crew member laughed and walked past.
“Bootstrap…” came a voice from behind her and Elizabeth whirled around, peering into the other cell. “You know my name?”
Bootstrap emerged from the wall of the ship, looking much worse than Will had described him. He was becoming more and more a part of the ship.
“Yes, I know your son,” said Elizabeth. “Will Turner.”
“William!” Bootstrap cried joyously.
He laughed.
“He made it, he’s alive!” Bootstrap sounded slightly delirious. “And now he sends you to tell me that he’s coming to get me.”
He laughed again.
“Godspoons! He’s on his way.”
“Yes, Will is alive,” said Elizabeth. “And he wants to help you.”
Bootstraps entire demeanor changed in an instant.
"He can’t help me, he won’t come.”
“But you’re his father,” Elizabeth argued, trying to keep him from giving up hope.
Bootstrap looked at Elizabeth, curiously.
“I know you, he spoke of you,” Bootstrap said. “He can’t come because of you.”
“Me?” asked Elizabeth.
How was she keeping Will from helping his father?
“You’re Elizabeth,” said Bootstrap with a tone of wonder.
“Yes, I’m Elizabeth,” she said.
“If Jones be slain, he who slays him must take his place,” Bootstrap explained. “Captain forever. The Dutchman must always have a captain. If he saves me, he loses you.”
“I see,” said Elizabeth.
“He won’t pick me,” said Bootstrap, sinking back into the side of the ship. “I wouldn’t pick me. Tell him not to come. Tell him to stay away. It’s too late. I’m already a part of the ship.”
“Bootstrap…”
“You know my name,” said Bootstrap.
“Yes… I know your son,” Elizabeth said, a little confused.
“William!” cried Bootstrap. “He’s coming, wait and see, he promised.”
Bootstrap settled back in his seat again and Elizabeth decided to leave him be.
~
Serenity couldn’t sleep. She was worried about Elizabeth and angry with Will. On top of it all, her feelings for Jack had not faded with the distance she tried to put between them. Her world had become so topsy turvy in such a short time. It was confusing and frustrating.
Serenity decided to take a walk on deck. It was then that she saw a very strange thing.
Will was tying a body to a barrel at the bow of the Black Pearl.
At first, Serenity thought she was hallucinating, but then she realized that there was no reason for her to be hallucinating—unless she had gone mad, and she didn’t feel mad.
Curious, Serenity slipped into the shadows and watched the scene play out.
From her place in the shadows, Serenity saw Jack approach Will quietly.
“Bravo, you escaped the brig even quicker than I expected,” Jack said, causing Will to jump.
Will whirled around, looking for something to defend himself with, but Jack stopped him.
“William, do you notice something?” Jack asked. “Or rather, do you notice something that is not there to be noted?”
“You haven’t raised an alarm.”
Serenity had noticed that too.
“Odd, isn’t it? But not as odd as this,” said Jack, gesturing to the body on the barrel. “Come up with this all by your lonesome, did you?”
“I said to myself, ‘think like Jack’,” replied Will.
“And this is what you’ve arrived at?” asked Jack, not really impressed. “Lead Beckett to Shipwreck Cove so as to gain his trust, accomplish your own ends? Its like you don’t know me at all, mate.”
Serenity risked moving closer. She didn’t like what Jack was insinuating. If Jack betrayed her, she didn’t know what she would do.
“And how does your dearly beloved feel about this?” asked Jack.
Will paused.
“Ah, you’ve not seen fit to trust her with it,” said Jack.
Serenity was now hidden behind a few barrels, very close to the two men.
Will sighed in frustration and turned to face the sea.
“I’m losing her Jack,” said Will. “Every step I take for my father is a step away from Elizabeth.”
“Mate, if you choose to lock your heart away, you’ll lose it for certain,” said Jack. “If I may lend a machete to your intellectual thicket: avoid the choice altogether. Change the facts. Let someone else dispatch Jones.”
“Who?” asked Will. There was a pause. “You?”
“Death has a curious way of reshuffling one’s priorities,” said Jack. “I’ll slip aboard the Dutchman, find the heart, stab the beating thing, your father goes free, and you’re free to be with your charming murderess.”
“And you’re willing to carve out your heart and bind yourself to the Dutchman… forever,” Will said skeptically.
“No mate, I’m free forever,” said Jack wistfully. “Free to sail the seas beyond the edges of the map. Free from death itself.”
“You’ve got to do the job though, Jack,” said Will. “You have to ferry souls to the next world, or end up just like Jones.”
He stroked his chin, insinuating the tentacles on Davy Jones’ face.
“I don’t have the face for tentacles,” Jack agreed. “But immortal has to count for something, eh?”
“What about Serenity?” Will asked, narrowing his eyes at Jack.
Serenity froze at the mention of her name.
“What about her?” Jack asked cautiously.
“I’m not an idiot, Jack,” said Will. “I’ve seen the way you look at her, and I see the way she looks at you. You care for her, but you’re both too stubborn to admit you have feelings.”
Serenity held her breath. Will was an incredibly perceptive person; nothing got past him.
Jack was silent for a minute.
He thought about it. He knew he had feelings for the girl, but to admit it would be like betraying himself. He was Jack Sparrow, the man who loved no woman. However, he could not deny that he was drawn to Serenity. It was like falling in love with the sea all over again.
Finally, he said, “She’ll get over me. And I’ll have the sea.”
Serenity felt tears prick her eyes as her heart broke. She had known that Jack would choose the sea over her, but it still hurt.
“Oh!” Jack suddenly exclaimed as if he had remembered something.
Serenity leaned out to see what it was.
Jack handed Will his compass.
“What’s this for?” asked Will.
“Think like me, it’ll come to you,” said Jack, and he exhaled directly into Will’s face.
Jack’s breath must have been disgusting because Will stumbled backwards and fell overboard.
“Will!” Serenity cried, and she darted out from her hiding place.
Jack only spared her the tiniest look of surprise before he pushed the barrel with the body on it overboard as well.
Serenity ran to the railing and watched as Will clung to the barrel for dear life.
“My regards to Davy Jones!” Jack called down.
Serenity was furious. She didn’t show it though as she whipped out her newest toy—a very large and scary looking gun that she had stolen from one of Sao Feng’s men—and pointed it at Jack.
“How long were you hiding there?” Jack asked.
“The whole time,” Serenity replied.
“Then why didn’t you sound an alarm?”
“I was curious.”
“So you heard everything?” Jack asked, a little worried.
If she had heard his words, his denial of having feelings for her, there was no way he could ever get her back. Not that he really cared, but Jack had been enjoying the challenge of wooing the innocent girl.
Serenity lowered the gun with a sigh.
“Every word,” she said.
Jack felt slightly guilty, but recovered quickly.
“I always knew you would choose the sea over me,” Serenity continued. “I could never compare to the sea. Don’t feel bad about it.”
Jack scoffed.
“I don’t feel bad.”
“Your face say’s otherwise.”
With those words, Serenity walked away from him and her chest had a dull ache in it, as though she had left her heart with Jack.
~
The brig was absolutely disgusting, but Elizabeth refused to call out and beg to be taken somewhere else. Her experiences with pirates had hardened her.
Suddenly, as though he had heard her silent pleas, James was there, unlocking the door for Elizabeth and her crew.
“Come with me,” said James, but Elizabeth refused to move. “Quickly!”
Elizabeth looked into his eyes and saw the urgency in them. She nodded to her crew and they exited the cell.
“What are you doing?” Elizabeth asked.
“Choosing a side,” said James.
Elizabeth stepped out of the cell. Behind her, Bootstrap opened his eyes and looked around.
“Do not go to Shipwreck Cove,” said James. “Beckett knows of the meeting of the Brethren. I fear there may be a traitor among them.”
He led them to the back of the ship, where there was a rope towing Sao Feng’s ship. Elizabeth’s crew began shimmying across the rope to the other ship. Elizabeth turned to James.
“It’s too late to earn my forgiveness,” she said coldly.
“I had nothing to do with your father’s death,” James said earnestly. “That doesn’t absolve me of my other sins.”
“Come with us,” said Elizabeth. “James, come with me.”
Suddenly, Bootstrap appeared out of the side of the ship.
“Who goes there?” Bootstrap demanded.
“Go,” said James, pushing Elizabeth towards the rope. “I will follow.”
“You’re lying,” said Elizabeth.
“Our destinies have been entwined, Elizabeth,” James said in anguish, “…but never joined.”
He kissed her and, this time, Elizabeth did not push him away. She loved James, deeply. Not as much as she loved Will, but enough to feel the pain of losing him. James would not follow.
“Go! Now!” James cried.
Elizabeth swung gracefully over the railing and began to climb to the other ship.
James turned to Bootstrap and said, “Back to your station, sailor.”
“No one leaves the ship,” said Bootstrap.
“Stand down,” James commanded. “That’s an order!”
“That’s an order. That’s an order,” said Bootstrap, annoyed. “Part of the crew, part of the ship. Part of the crew, part of the ship.”
He advanced on James.
“Steady, man!” James shouted, causing Elizabeth to look back at him.
“Part of the crew, part of the ship,” Bootstrap’s voice rose in volume as he spoke. “All hands, prisoner escape!”
“Belay that!” James cried.
He turned and shot the rope, connecting the two boats, and Elizabeth was plunged into the water below.
She kicked to the surface just in time to see Bootstrap stab James in the chest, and watched in anguish as one of her oldest and closest companions slumped against the railing.
“James! James! No!” Elizabeth sobbed.
He did not reply to her screams, but she had not expected him to. After an agonizing moment, Elizabeth turned her back on her friend and swam after her crew to her ship.
what did you think? about Elizabeth becoming a pirate lord? about Will's continuation of betrayals? about Jack and Serenity's feelings? are you upset that there's still no action between them? lol don't worry there will be. I just gotta build up the appropriate friction between them before that ;)
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XD