All the disappointments, broken dreams and dark experiences would soon be forgotten.
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As Elizabeth and Narissa rowed towards Isla de Muerta, they saw the Black Pearl floating proudly in the distance, near the island. It appeared that nobody was on the ship.
Narissa pointed at the black sailed ship. "The crew," she murmured, and Elizabeth understood. Surely Jack's crew would help them. They rowed towards the ship and climbed over the gunwale, sneaking onto the deck. Once they set foot on the wooden floor, Barbossa's skeletal monkey dropped down from the mast, just in front of them, screeching at them. They were startled at first, although Elizabeth was mostly annoyed. She grabbed the animal and threw him overboard.
Narissa stiffled a laugh. "Poor Jack, he isn't that bad." She would have pitied the animal, hadn't she known that it couldn't die.
They both looked over the gunwale. Two skeletal heads stuck out from one of the gunports, looking down at the splash caused by the animal's fall. Panicked, both women ran away from view before they could see them.
They raced downstairs, below deck, to find the cells. When Narissa heard footsteps approaching them, she grabbed her friend's arm and pulled her behind a column with her. They stopped breathing until the cursed pirates ran past them, heading up to the deck.
They stood out from their hiding place and reached the cells. The crew was gathered in one of them, in the darkness. Gibbs tilted his head looking out from the cell. "It's Narissa and Elizabeth!" he whispered exitedly.
Narissa held the key that she had stolen from her father days before, smirking at Gibbs. As soon as they were free, they all ran back to the main deck. Waiting for the two cursed pirates that were guarding the ship to appear.
When the pirates were in sight, looking for whoever had sneaked onto the ship, the girls and the crew pushed a boat towards them, sweeping them off into the water.
They all cheered as Narissa and Elizabeth grabbed the gunwale of the boat.
"All of you! With me!" Elizabeth yelled. "Will is in that cave, and we must save him." She didn't look at them, so she didn't realize that they weren't even moving. Narissa saw this and released her hold on the boat. "Ready and... Heave!" The boat didn't budge. She turned around. The crew was looking at her, not moving at all. Both women looked at them, incredulous.
"Please, we need your help! Come on!" Narissa shouted.
The parrot replied "Any port! In a storm!"
"Cotton is right. We've got the Pearl," Gibbs said with a shrug of his shoulders.
Narissa looked hurt and betrayed by his words. "What about Jack? You're just going to leave him?"
"Jack owes us a ship," Marty, the small pirate, responded.
"And there's the code to consider," Gibbs added.
Narissa was infuriated by then, not believing her ears. She scoffed. "The code? You're pirates! Hang the code! And hang the rules! They're more like guidelines, anyway!"
Gibbs simply looked away.
Narissa turned her back to them and grabbed her friend's shoulder. "Come, Lizzie. Someone has to help them."
Elizabeth nodded and they both climbed alone into the rowboat.
"Bloody pirates," Elizabeth muttered angrily as she rowed away.
The older woman stared silently at the Black Pearl, behind them, moving away. Narissa knew it would break Jack's heart when he found out that his crew had left with his ship, without him. They were so close to getting it back...
As they arrived to the island and entered the cave, the echoes of swords clashing against each other reached their ears. They were fighting, and Elizabeth had no weapon, while Narissa carried her sword, her pistol and her dagger.
They reached the opening that led to the place were the sword fight was taking place. Jack was dueling against Barbossa, while Will fought a few pirates that had stayed there while the rest of the crew attacked the Royal Navy.
Elizabeth looked at her, waiting for a signal that told her it was the right moment to join them.
A nod of her head was enough. They entered the main cavern to join the fight. Narissa saw a heavy golden staff in the midst of a pile of treasure. She tossed it to her friend and unsheathed her own sword.
There was a pirate fighting Will. The boy was on the floor, while the cursed man threatened him, raising his sword. "I'm gonna teach you the meaning of pain!"
"You like pain?" Elizabeth's voice said behind him. The pirate turned, receiving a knock on his head by Elizabeth's staff, which made him fall down. "Try wearing a corset," she added, anger clear in her eyes and voice. She pulled Will up with the staff and they smiled at each other.
Meanwhile, Narissa fought the other two cursed pirates, struggling to keep up with only one sword, so her friends ran to help.
As Will and Elizabeth used their staff, Narissa realized the pirate that had been knocked out had just recovered and was running towards them, sword in hand. Narissa blocked his sword with her own and kicked him on the chest. This made him stumble backwards for a second and she fought him mercilessly. The three friends worked as a team, protecting each other as soon as one of them was endangered.
While Will and Elizabeth fought together, Narissa allowed herself to check on how Jack was doing fighting her father. At that moment, Jack thrust his sword into Barbossa's chest, obviously with no effect. Her father rolled his eyes, removed the blade from his body and sank it back into Jack's chest.
"No!" she screamed in pain. Her breathing seemed to stop and her heart actually felt like it had been stabbed.
Her desperate yell made Barbossa realize that his daughter was there. He looked at her pitifully. Jack stumbled a few steps backwards, into the moonlight and... His body became a skeleton!
He looked at his own hand in wonder. "Interesting..." A golden coin rolled down from under his sleeve, he played with it between his fingers. "Couldn't resist, mate," he added playfully before pulling the sword out from his chest. He was now cursed too. Their fight would only end once the curse was broken.
Narissa wanted to be angry at him for scaring her like that, but she was so relieved that she couldn't be mad at him. She could just let out a nervous laugh as her breathing went back to normal. Holding her sword tightly, she kept fighting the undying pirates that were trying to kill them, while the two captains faced each other.
Finally, Jack grabbed the coin he had stolen and sliced his hand with his sword, blood bathing the gold. He tossed it to Will, who stood on the chest filled with the other hundreds of coins. Noticing this, Barbossa stopped fighting his enemy and pulled out his pistol, aiming it at Narissa, who was then running towards Jack. As soon as the canon was directed at her, she stopped dead in her tracks. She stared at her father, not believing that he was threatening her. For the first time in her life, she was afraid of him. She didn't dare to move, every muscle of her body seemed to be frozen. For a long second, she could hear her heart pounding nervously inside her chest and feel tears quickly gathering in her eyes.
A shot echoed in the cavern, and she shut her eyes tightly.
Barbossa looked surprised and turned his gaze from his daughter to Jack. Jack, pistol raised and aimed, still smoking, had shot him. Narissa opened her eyes and let herself breathe again.
"Ten years you carry that pistol, and now you waste your shot?" he said to Jack, smirking by the end of his sentence, lowering his pistol.
"He didn't waste it," Will's voice rang in the air. Barbossa put his weapon down then and turned to see the young man standing next to the chest, holding a knife, his left hand in a fist. As he opened the fist, both his and Jack's coins dropped from his hand, revealing a cut in his palm. The coins, covered in blood, landed in the chest with the rest of the coins.
After ten years, the curse was broken.
Barbossa looked down at his chest, where Jack had shot him. Blood blossomed on his shirt. Jack lowered the pistol slowly, staring at the man who betrayed him with cold eyes, almost shocked. It was over. He had spent ten years thinking of revenge, and now it was done.
Barbossa stared at the blood and looked up at Narissa. She was the last thing he wanted to see before he was gone. She saw in his eyes a hundred different emotions: Anger, dismay and even relief. His right hand reached for something that hanged from his neck. "I feel... Cold" were his final words before he collapsed on a mountain of treasure. His hand, still holding something, directed to her daughter as he let out his last breath.
Jack and Narissa looked at each other from the distance as he put his pistol away. Then, she ran to him. He received her with open arms, and she embraced him tightly. He held her waist, resting his head on her shoulder before leaving a soft kiss on her neck. She hid her face against his body, and he heard a quiet sob.
"You gave me quite a scare there. I thought he had killed you," she whispered.
"I'm sorry," he murmured against her skin. "I'm sorry about killing him too. I know you still cared about him."
"I would have done the same if I were you. It's alright. And he's now free from the curse, as he wanted." She put some distance between them. Looking down to her feet, she said "Besides, he was going to shoot me."
The captain shook his head while his hand reached for her chin, lifting her head up so she'd look at him. Her eyes were glossy, he noticed. Maybe it was because of her short moment of panic, maybe because she had just seen her father being killed. "I don't think he was going to shoot, just trying to trick me."
This somehow relieved her, thinking that her father, somehow, still cared for her. She believed that he still loved her. She wasn't sure, but how could she know now that he was gone? Looking back at her father's dead body, a glint of sadness tinted her eyes. Jack grabbed her hand.
She walked towards the corpse, noticing that something shone between his fingers. Kneeling down and releasing Jack's hand, she reached out and opened her father's cold hand. There was a pendant that she recognized immediately; a leather cord with a small metallic anchor hanging from it. She took it, stood up and tied it around her neck.
"What is it?" Jack asked with curiosity.
She smiled softly as her fingers traced the small figure. "His piece of eight." She looked at her father one last time, silently thanking him. "He made me a pirate lord." Now she knew. Her father did love her until the end, in his own bizarre way. Jack grinned proudly. It suited her: Narissa Barbossa, Pirate Lord of the Caspian Sea.
Narissa turned her attention to Will. He was walking to Elizabeth. She sighed. Elizabeth had accepted the proposal, there was no way William could get her now.
Jack was searching into a big mountain of treasure for something worth taking. Narissa approached him. He grabbed a golden crown and rested it on her head. "My lord," he said mockingly with a bow. She laughed at this and he leaned down to peck her lips. "Now that this is over, I can't wait for you to be on the Pearl with me." He smiled widely after saying this, like a child expecting his birthday gift.
Narissa's smile fell. "Jack... The Pearl..." She hesitantly took a hold of his hands, focusing her gaze on the cut on his palm. "Well, your crew sailed away with her. Elizabeth and I tried to convince them not to leave you but... The Code... And you owed them a ship." She couldn't find the right words to explain this to him. She finally dared to look at him. He was broken; his eyes were empty, cold. She gulped. "I'm sorry, Jack."
He didn't say anything for a moment. He was still weighing her words. Finally, he spoke. "They done what's right by them. Can't expect more than that."
She left a hand on his cheek and he leaned into her touch. "Norrington will arrest you as soon as he sees you." He nods, already knowing what was coming: The noose. "I really am sorry."
"It's not your fault, love. You've done more than anybody else for me." He kissed her forehead and wrapped an arm loosely around her shoulders.
"Your fiancé will be wanting to know you're safe," they heard Will say to Elizabeth. They walked towards the boy, who stared at her as she walked away from him.
"If you were looking for the opportune moment, that was it," Jack told him and Will immediately regretted saying those words to her and not kissing her instead.
"How do you know about the proposal?" Narissa asked her friend.
"Jack mentioned it when he came here," Will said sadly, looking down at his feet with a combination of sadness and embarrasment.
Narissa rested a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You're an idiot and should've kissed her," she said trying not to laugh.
They got into the longboat in which Elizabeth and Narissa had arrived there. The night had been so long, they found the day was dawning already. The first sun rays reflected on the water as they rowed back to the Dauntless, Jack's eyes were fixed on the waves. Narissa grabbed his hands and kissed them softly; his attention was now set on her. She sent him a soft reassuring smile, and he responded with a small smirk. I really do love her, he thought. It was a shame that they couldn't spend much time together.
As soon as they got onto the Dauntless, Jack was welcomed by a pair of iron shackles around his wrists and he was taken into a cell. It happened so fast, he only had time to send Narissa a brief smile before they took him away.
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Hello there!
Sorry if you don't like me changing Barbossa's piece of eight, but I felt this suited the story.
What did you think about this chapter? Leave your opinion in the comments :)
D.Xx