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"Over the edge...over again..."

There was little to remember after the fall, for there was not but dark and the sound of screams and crashing water and the boat tearing itself apart. Barbossa was sure he would have drowned, were it not for the guiding hands of fate; or in this case the Sea Goddess herself.
They washed ashore to broad daylight, himself and the surviving crew. He coughed and sputtered, laying in wet sand, the drenched remains of his hat folding over his face. Barbossa swatted it away, trying the shake the water out as Jack the monkey scurried up his torso like a downing rat and scurried for safety atop his head. Hector pulled him off, resettling him on his shoulder as he pushed himself up, weighed down by the weight of his soaked clothing. He looked behind him and saw Tia Dalma struggling ashore as well, followed by Gibbs, Will and Elizabeth. He reached for the woman, helping her along, "M'lady."
She took it gratefully. "Thankee, Barbossa." she nodded to him.
Gibbs was coming along now too, squinting about at the barren landscape that stretched out before them. Beyond the shore there was nothing, save for endless dunes of sand. Barbossa knew this and was not surprised by it. But the others had not his insight.
"This is truly a God forsaken place..." the old man muttered, coming along side them.
"I don't see Jack," Elizabeth said then as she too came to join them where they stood. Her long blonde hair hung in ragged wet tangles around her sharp feminine features. "I don't see anyone."
"He's here." Barbossa promised. "Davy Jones never once gave up that what he took."
Will Turner abandoned Elizabeth's side to confront the old pirate again and was at his shoulder, staring him down; "What does it matter?" the whelp barked at him. "We're trapped here by your doing, no different than Jack."
"Aye, Master Turner, that be the plan all along!" he snarled, rolling his eyes. "To trap myself here for eternity with the likes of you and the rest of this sordid mangy rabble of cutthroats!"
Will puffed out his chest, ready to attack but Elizabeth grabbed him and pulled him back. "Stop it! Stop it, both of you!"
"Aye, the lass be right! We'll get no where squabblin'!" Gibbs replied bitterly.
Hector leered at him before striding forward a bit, his boots sloshing. "Aye, we won't find him sitting here staring ahead of us like a bunch of witless gits," he barked at the lot of them.
"But...this could stretch on for miles!" Pintel pipped up suddenly, seeming terribly concerned at the prospect of having to face a march of endless miles across blistering sand.
"Aye, ye can be sure it does." Barbossa nodded. "It be the design of it's maker. What could be worse for a man who loves the sea and it's freedom than to be land-locked for all eternity?"
"Truly a terrible fate," Ragetti muttered, nervously wringing his hands. "Poor Cap'n Jack."
Barbossa cast his gaze upon Tia Dalma, looking for some sort of clue or guidance. The dark skinned woman paused before looking at them, stroking the shell of a tiny hermit crab that rested in her palm. "Witty Jack is closer than you think..." was all she would say.
They blinked at her curiously. At his feet, wee Jack let out a screech, catching his attention. And then he saw it. A trail of hermit crabs marching like lemmings to the sea, were trailing down from the highest dune before them, right to Tia Dalma, disappearing beneath her skirts. Barbossa eyed the witch, for he was always a little unnerved whenever she revealed a bit more of her true form. "Ugh!" Pintel lurched, staring at the creatures as they skittered towards them in their strange side-ways march. "Must be a thousand of those little sea spiders!"
"Aye, follow 'em lads!" Hector called starting forward, already feeling his clothes drying under the scorching sun. He had barely gotten a yard ahead when Turner came barreling up beside him, eager to pass him, once more leaving Elizabeth behind to struggle. Gibbs offered her a hand but she brushed him off, to angry with Will to accept anyone else's help.
Barbossa matched his stride, leering hard at him. "What are ye playin' at, boy?"
Will didn't say anything but gave him a hard look before giving him a push to the side, sprinting ahead as Hector staggered. The older pirate stopped for a moment, eyes wide and muttered a curse before redoubling his efforts and giving Turner and forcible shove with his whole body, which sent him rolling into the sand.

Behind them, Elizabeth, Gibbs and Tia Dalma followed, staring at the spectacle ahead of them. "Oh now they're just behaving like children..." Gibbs muttered in exasperation. "I don't know which one I'm more embarrassed by."
"Frightful competitive the captain is," the lanky one-eyed man hiking behind them reminded the group. "And Mr. Turner seems to be cut from the same cloth in that respect."
Elizabeth frowned deeply. "Brilliant..." she muttered, marching forward as fast as she could against the sinking slope. At it's summit, Barbossa and Turner were neck and neck, both trying desperately to trip-up the other. Will grabbed the brim of Hector's hat and yanked it down over his eyes, blinding him. As he cursed, wee Jack leapt from his shoulder and attached himself to Will's face, scratching and biting. Will shrieked and managed to pull the primate from his head, tossing him down hill, where he shrieked and chittered indignantly, showing his tiny fangs. Hector started sliding down the hill, laughing at Turner, only to be tackled from behind and sent face first into the sand.
The pair went rolling and tumbling down hill clawing and grappling with each other. "Curse ye fer breathin' ye slack-jawed–!" Hector snarled, spitting sand as he tried to choke the other man, who was trying to twist his head right off his shoulders.
"You're acting like children!!" Elizabeth screamed down at them from above.
"Give it up, old man! You can't–!" But before Will could finish his sentence Hector had buried his face in sand and managed to sit up right, shaking the sand from hair and eyes. They were half way down the dune, sweaty and with sand in every crevice and fold of skin and cloth when he looked up and saw what was waiting there in the middle of the dry cracked valley below.
The Black Pearl sat perched, adrift a sea of sand and parched earth, her sails utterly still above the windless plain. "Gods...!"
Sitting there he saw the trail of crabs continue moving passed him like rats fleeing a sinking ship. He felt little Jack come loping up beside him, dragging his lost hat in his paws. "Thankee, Jack."
"Glory, would you look at it...!" Gibbs gasped as the rest of them began the decent. Barbossa pushed himself to his feet as Elizabeth came tumbling passed him, blowing past both of them and spurring both of them on. "Jack! Jack Sparrow!" she shouted into the empty void of the landscape.
The Black Pearl was tilted upon her side, for she could not possibly hold her proper balance out of water. They were able to climb the haul with some effort and climbed aboard the slanted deck. For a ship that had been devoured and crushed under the tentacles of the Kraken, the Pearl looked no worse for wear. They just hoped to find their captain in the same condition.
"Jack! Jack!"
They searched high and low, in the captain's cabin and below in the rum cellar, finding various degrees of destruction there, though all seemed man-made. But Jack was nowhere to be found. "Where is he?" Will finally exclaimed, looking truly worried now.
Ragetti gulped loudly, his Adam's apple visibly bobbing. "Ye don't think...he could be under the boat, do you?" Gibbs scoffed at him. "What a damn stupid thing to say.." but he grimaced at the thought all the same.
Hector was holding onto the rigging to keep his balance, silently following the trail of straggling crabs that seemed to be on the only lonely occupants of the ship and peered over the titled edge to the ground below. And there he saw him.
Jack was sprawled on his back in the shadow of the ship, a length of rope beside him. Without even thinking Hector grabbed hold of a line and hurled himself over the side, sliding down the length of it at blistering speed. He crashed to the ground, his knees groaning in protest, and scrambled towards Sparrow's unmoving figure. "Jack!"
He dropped beside him, looking him over hurriedly for signs of injury. But at his touch Jack's kohl darkened lids snapped open and he sat up with unnatural rigidness, staring straight ahead. Barbossa recoiled a bit, startled by this sudden unexpected movement. Jack turned his head to look at him suspiciously with fever glazed eyes. "Hector?"
"Y-yes," Barbossa stuttered, more than a little unnerved by Jack's strange demeanor. Jack glared at him hard for a moment, as though he couldn't be entirely sure he was really there. Then grinned. "Well! Fancy seeing you here!" He giggled stupidly and struggled to his feet, dusting himself off. "Frankly I was wondering when you'd show up. Been awhile, hasn't it?"
Above them they could hear the ship creaking as the rest of the search party came to the edge of the ship. "Jack!"
He looked up at them in surprise and grinned, waving. "Hullo! Well...you're all about a bloody year late!" He called. He looked at Barbossa again, shaking his head. "So hard to find good help these days, eh?"
All the other pirate could do was stare. Jack was in the throes of a delirium and there was no telling what he might do. "Jack...do ye know where ye are?" he asked cautiously.
"Of course I do!" Sparrow chuckled, looking this way and that as the others made their way below from above, until he spotted the discarded bit of rope that had been lying beside him. He took it up again eagerly and began to walk forward, dragging it over his shoulder. Barbossa realized that it was still attached to the bow of the ship. "Well, come on then, hop to it!" the other captain called cheerfully. Barbossa followed him, waving for the others to keep their distance. "And what be that?"
Jack began to pull harshly upon the rope, digging his heels and toes into the earth in an effort to move the stranded Pearl. "Well...unh! She's not going to move herself, is she!?" he grunted under the strain.
Will and Gibbs approached slowly from behind then, coming to stand at Barbossa's back. "He's ravin' mad..." the old sailor gasped piteously, watching Jack struggle. "Aye, as if it's any wonder being trapped in this." Hector nodded. "Don't startle him, no tellin' what he may do."
Barbossa moved around to look Jack in the face, seeing the sweat beading it. "Jack," he said calmly, putting a hand to his shoulder. Even through the fabric of Sparrow's jacket he could feel the heat of his skin. "She's landlocked. Ye'll not be movin' her that way."
"I know that." he replied tartly. "You think I don't know that?"
He started muttering to himself hurriedly, talking to people who weren't there. Will moved forward then, putting his hand over Jack's upon the rope. The pirate captain gave a jerk of surprise and looked at him with startled eyes. "Bootstrap!?"
"No, Jack, it's me...Will." the young man answered, startled at being mistaken by the pirate.
"Oh." Jack blinked. "But it can't be you."
"Why not?"
Jack dropped the rope and looked at him hard, hands on his belt, wavering on his feet so that it seemed he'd fall over any minute. "Because if you were indeed William Turner, that would mean that you were here to find Elizabeth. And since she isn't here, then neither are you. Or any of you!" He gestured wildly then, finally turning to see them all standing awkwardly behind him while others remained aboard the ship.
"Mr. Gibbs!"
"Aye Captain!" His first mate replied, nervously coming to attention. "Good to see you! Are you dead too? Ruddy shame about that, Joshamee, ruddy shame...always thought you'd at least end up somewhere better." Sparrow babbled. He spied Cotton, Marty and Ragetti and Pintel above. "My, my...seems my fortunes have faired no better dead than alive. The same bleedin' crew of miscreants and odd balls...well, at least I'll have the parrot to talk to."
"Jack, please listen," Will said, reaching for him again, but Jack shoved him off violently. "No! No I will not, listen, dear William! Why should I listen to ghosts and phantoms and the like hmm?"
"Jack!"
The sound of a woman's voice caught his attention and he turned his head as Elizabeth made herself known. "Jack, we're here. This is real." She looked at him worriedly, fearing for his sanity. Perhaps Jack had never really been all there, but this was piteous. He stared at her for a moment, struck silent by her appearance and then moved hurriedly away as though she'd attack him. "Jack, please...we're here to rescue you!"
The tan skin pirate exploded in laughter then and the harsh sound of it echoed in the empty air. "Rescue me?! Rescue me? Oh no, I think not. You see, I am the one who has a ship, and you do not. Therefore it's you who need rescuing, and I'm not as sure as I'm in the mood..."
He turned as if to stride away, but Hector blocked his path. Jack stared up at him with those dark glassy eyes of his, scowling deeply. "Out of my way, mate."
"Don't be a damn fool, Sparrow. Yer half mad and weak as kitten. Ye really think yer gonna move this ship under your own power?" Jack pulled his pistol from his belt and pressed the barrel of it the side of Hector's head. "I said...move."
Elizabeth moved forward to intervene but Will held her back, afraid Jack might turn and fire on the rest of them. "Don't do it, captain!" Gibbs begged. But Barbossa did not look afraid. Instead he continued to stare down the delirious man. "Go ahead then. Pull the trigger." Sparrow stared at him hard, but his eyes were drooping and some of the mad light had gone out of them. "Oh Buggar..." He fell forward abruptly, crashing into Barbossa's arms who caught him awkwardly as he slumped unconscious to the ground. Will and the others moved in worriedly. "He needs water!" Barbossa grabbed Gibbs' flask from around his neck with a yank and pulled off the lid with his teeth, dribbling it into Jack's mouth. It caused the captain to cough and sputter loudly, and a whiff of it made him cringe. "This is rum ya idiot!" he snapped, throwing it back at him.
Tia Dalma moved forward then, kneeling beside the two and poured her own flask of water between Jack's slack lips, trying to revive him. While the others looked on, Marty the midget made an interesting discovery. The Pearl seemed to be beset by a swarm of crabs, which were massing beneath the haul. "Hey! Hey, look at this!"
He tugged on Cotton's sleeve, who turned to see it too. The parrot squawked loudly, catching the attention of the other crewmen who all turned to see what the commotion was. Pintel shrieked, latching onto his partner, arms around his middle tightly. "Those little blighter spiders are takin' over the ship!" he shrieked. "They're not spiders, luv," Ragetti tried to explain. "They be spiders of the sea!!" Pintel shrieked.
"There's thousands of them..." Elizabeth gasped, watching them swarm beneath the haul. It was creepy and it was fascinating. A million tiny sand and stone colored shells and claws piling over top of each other in order to get beneath the great mass. No one but Hector seemed to notice their source, or began to understand their purpose. He looked hurriedly to Tia Dalma, who just smiled knowingly at him. "De wind is changin'."
Barbossa turned his gaze once again towards the Pearl and saw that she had begun to right herself. "Everyone! Aboard the ship! Now, move!"
"What?"
"No time! Climb aboard!"
He heaved Jack over his shoulder and began to climb up the rope as Gibbs ushered the others to do the same. In a mad scramble they were all aboard, just as the Pearl began her slow and incredible crawl across the earth towards the shore beyond.
The rush of movement brought Jack around a little, and he propped himself against Barbossa, who struggled to hold his sagging weight. "I smell water..."
"Aye, but not the kind we're hoping for." the other man replied, looking him over cautiously. He had the sudden incredible urge to drag the man against him and kiss him until he couldn't breathe. But of course he wasn't going to act on that impulse. "Where is Will?"
No sooner were the words spoken than Turner made his presence known. "I'm here, Jack. Don't worry," Barbossa scoffed, holding Jack a little closer to him.
"Captain!"
"Aye!" Both Hector and Jack answered Gibbs' call at once, glaring awkwardly at each other afterwards. Gibbs grimaced at his mistake, "Barbossa, sir! We need you at the helm if we're to make a clean entry into the surf!"
"Why are you callin' 'im Captain?" Jack pouted, looking at Gibbs with wounded eyes. "I thought I was your captain, Gibbs..." The old sailor looked horribly torn and piteous towards his raving companion, "Jack, you'll always be my captain..."
Barbossa rolled his eyes. This was going to be a long and painful voyage. "He doesn't know what he's saying, ye needn't–,"
"Quiet, you! No one was talking to you!" Jack barked at him. "I don't recall inviting you to this tea party." He tried to push away, but failed miserably.
"I'll take him," Will offered, getting an arm under Jack, who offered him a smile. "You're needed elsewhere." His voice held a smug tone of satisfaction, but for the moment Barbossa could do nothing but accept this small defeat. "Take 'im below and keep 'im quiet if ye can manage," he snapped, turning away towards Gibbs and Will shouldered Jack and helped him into his cabin. "Gibbs! Gibbs! Don't let 'im take my ship! Promise me!"
"Shh, quiet now Jack."
"Ah, William! When did you get here?"
Barbossa shook his head. "Steady as she goes lads! Keep her rudder straight! Unfurl that sail Mr. Pintel! We be makin' way!"
"Aye, but where to sir?" Gibbs inquired. "We've no heading."
"For the moment it's not important."
This seemed an incredulous idea to Gibbs who had spent so long at sea all these things were second nature to him. A ship without a heading was like a sail with no wind; useless. Then again, where could they possibly sail to? There was nowhere to go here in the Sea of the Dead, for surely that's what it was. "Do not despair, Mr. Gibbs. Don't forget, we have the charts, and now the compass." Barbossa did not see the skeptical look that Gibbs gave him then, but it mattered little. The crew could think what they wanted about his motives, he owed them nothing. In time things would make themselves clear.

***

Day and night stretched on forever in this purgatory for the lost and the damned, like the sea itself. There was nary a cloud or speck of land for as far as the eye could see, and all directions looked one in the same. The sea below them was the calmest many had ever sailed, without hardly a wave or a tide to carry them. It was almost as if they were floating on glass.

Inside the cabin Will stretched Jack upon his bed and shed him of all unneeded clothing. Jack didn't protest as he had slipped beyond coherency and only babbled mindlessly between bouts of near sleep. He had just removed his boots and set to washing the man's burning skin was a damp rag when Sparrow cracked an eye and looked at him; "William?"
"Hush, Jack. You need sleep."
"Are you dead?"
Will felt an eerie twinge in his stomach at this question. "No, Jack. I'm not dead. Neither are you. You're in the Locker, remember? Go back to sleep now." Jack's hand reached up and touched the side of his face surprising him. "...So sorry, William...about everything...so sorry." His eyes slid closed again and he seemed to finally sink into sleep. Will remained holding his hand in his, staring at him with his mind and heart at war. He gave Jack a spiteful look, a strange hatred for him turning in his chest. Since his meeting with Bootstrap aboard the Flying Dutchman, a small flame of resentment for Jack had ignited in his chest. The more he thought about his father's lamentable fate as an undead servant of the wicked Jones, the more he resented Jack's freedom. Were it not for Jack and Barbossa, his father might be alive and safe and well. He might never had abandoned Will. None of this might have ever happened. Except that his father had the unfortunate luck of meeting Jack somewhere along the way. Even now, seeing Jack in this sorry state of tortured madness, he still wished that his and Bootstrap's places were reversed.
And even if he could have put all that aside; for he did know that Jack felt truly remorseful about Bootstrap's fate, he now had a knew reason to find fault in Sparrow's character. The matter of Elizabeth. The last time he had laid eyes upon Jack Sparrow, it was to see him sharing a kiss with his fiancee. It was an image the young Turner had not been able to put from his mind since. For he had loved both Jack and Elizabeth, and while he had been ready to put his brief love affair with the pirate behind him for the sake of the woman who had always held his heart, he could no longer decide whom had betrayed him worse.
William was at war with himself, whether he was truly aware of the conflict or not. Torn between loving and hating the two people most important in his life and desperately trying to find a way to use them to regain the only man who hadn't; his father. And then there was the matter of Barbossa, whom had all this time served as a scapegoat. It was easy to look upon the man as a villain, for that was the only way Will had ever known him. He couldn't, or perhaps simply didn't want to believe that such a man could change for the better. And so he couldn't understand why Elizabeth seemed to be defending him either.
Maybe the rest of the crew was just as crazy as Jack, and he was the only sane man aboard the ship. Or perhaps he was insane...it didn't really matter anymore. His plan was set into motion, and given they were able to return to the world of the living, he wasn't going to let anyone stand in the way of it. Not Jack, Not Barbossa, and not even Elizabeth.

He heard the door then and the girl entered, looking quickly from Jack to him, her face lined and worried. "Is he alright?"
"Resting for the moment," Will replied coldly. The two stood awkwardly in each other's presence, trying to focus on the sleeping man who was not aware of either of them. She smoothed out Jack's blankets, giving him a sweet, mournful look. It spurred Will to speak; "How long are we going to go on not talking then?"
She blinked at him, startled by his sudden confrontation. "I thought you were angry with me." she explained before frowning and shaking her head. "It doesn't matter. Everything will be alright now, we've got Jack."
Will's eyes narrowed. "Of course. We have Jack."
"Will, what are you–?"
"You!"
They both jumped, turning to see that Jack was awake again and staring with wide eyes at Elizabeth as he endeavored to crawl away. "You get off my ship! Keep away!"
Elizabeth felt as if the man was stabbing her in the heart then, his utter terror of her painful to see. "Jack please, let me explain!"
"Explain what?" Will cried, looking frantically from one to the other.
"Mr. Gibbs! GIBBS!"
There was a thundering from the stairs that flanked the sides of the cabin and soon the breathless first mate made himself known inside. "Captain?!"
"Get this murdering wench away from me! Lock 'er in the brig!"
"Murdering...?" They turned to stare at Elizabeth in confusion and she bowed her head in shame, gritting her teeth. Jack smiled and began to chuckle madly. "Oh! So she's not told you!" Gibbs struggled to get him to lie back down, but Sparrow was stronger than he let on. "Oh you'll have loads to talk about then!"
Will looked between the two for another moment and then roughly reached out and grabbed Elizabeth's arm, pulling her from the cabin onto the deck, hearing Jack laugh crazily behind them. "Is it true?!" he demanded.
The woman tried to hold back her tears, baring her teeth as she shrugged off his hold on her. "I had to! I had to, do you understand!? To save us all!"
The rest of the familiar crew, who had overheard the conversation being shouted from below, turned to look at the pair, eyes wide. Even Barbossa seemed stunned as he approached them from the upper deck. "You killed him! You left him to die there!" Will shouted at her, looking as though he were about to strike her. "How could you?! How could you not have told me?!"
"Would you have done any different in my place?!" Elizabeth bellowed back. This gave the other man pause for a moment before he shouted in frustration and made to slap her. Barbossa grabbed his wrist, and when Will turned to strike him instead he flung the boy to the floor and pinned him there with the heel of his boot. "Enough! You'll not be strikin' the lady in my presence, Mr. Turner. Not if ye want to retain yer hand instead of a bloody stump!" Will gasped breathlessly from the floor of the deck as the others looked on in surprise.
"Mr. Cotton, would ye be so good as to take this whelp below and let him cool his heels in the brig for awhile," the captain commanded as Gibbs came out to join them again, staring wide eyed between Will and Barbossa. "Has this whole damn ship gone mad?"
"It's only liken to get worse," Hector sighed, knowing it to be true. Jack needed to recover and quickly, for without his compass to help guide them it was unlikely they'd be able to decipher Sao Feng's cryptic map well enough to escape this infernal sea's doldrums. The prospect of eternity with a maddened crew was not one Barbossa was fond of. After all, he'd lived out that nightmare before. He looked to Elizabeth who looked crushed by the whole exchange. He didn't know what to say to her exactly. To learn that she had been the architect of Jack's demise was something he would never had expected. But she was right. Would any of them had done any differently in her place?

A tense silence fell over the ship and it's crew. When finally his back began to ache and the blinding sun became too much, Barbossa gave up the helm and turned to the cabin below, where the crew had been taking turns looking after Jack.
Under Tia Dalma's care, Sparrow seemed to be finally resting after hours of raving and screaming and talking to no one and everyone all at once. It was hard sight to bare for all. "Any change?" he asked the woman. She turned, dark tendrils of sliding over her bare shoulders. "The worst has passed," she replied, gathering her skirts and standing up. "When he wakes, he'll see clear."
Barbossa nodded mutely and then turned towards the door then. "Then I'll just leave you–," But she blocked his escape, giving him a peck on the cheek. "What is de matter? Are ye truly going to turn aside now after ye come this far to claim 'im?"
"You have an answer for everything, don't you?" Hector muttered as she turned and left him alone with the sleeping pirate. He was almost glad for Jack's senselessness, for now having come this far he realized he had no idea what he would actually say to the man. At least when he was in his right mind. He took up the chair next to his bedside and drew open one of the curtains along the wall to let a little of setting sunlight in so that he could see better. In doing so he saw that he had disturbed the sleeping man, who now looked up at him pensively. "Is that you, Barbossa?"
He sat back quickly, inwardly cursing himself. "Aye...you recognize me for what I am and not a dream?"
"Are you a dream?" Jack asked, struggling to sit up. Barbossa helped him sit forward, propping pillows behind his back. "Seems I can't much tell the difference between one or the other lately." He grunted. "Are we all dead then?"
"Death is for the lucky, Jack," he answered, rolling up his sleeves and dipping a rag into the wash basin next to the bed, ringing it out throughly before swiping it over Sparrow's naked neck and shoulders. "Hold still now. Ye bleedin' stink..."
Jack chuckled quietly, relishing the feel of water on his skin. "Well, yer no bouquet of roses yerself, luv." The familiar tones he used sent Hector's heart to flutter in his chest and for a moment he seemed too nervous to go on. He cursed himself for this of course. He was a grown man, a ruthless cutthroat buccaneer who used his sharp tongue and sharper sword to settle things. Not some shy blushing maiden who had not the courage to express her feelings to the man she was in love with. He felt hopelessly lost and stupid. "That feels good..." Jack sighed happily, eyes closed in pleasure as he washed the back of his neck. If he had looked up he would have seen how red Barbossa's face was. "Yes, well...enjoy it while ye can. We'll have to conserve our fresh water ration carefully now. No tellin how long this voyage will last."
"Eternity, I imagine." Jack hummed. "There's no getting out of the Locker, mate."
At this Hector gave a sly smile, handing Jack the rag so that he could finish the job himself. "Ah, but that's where ye under estimate me as always Sparrow. I've the Mao Kun map in my possession."
"The wha?"
Barbossa rolled his eyes. "The map to the other world, Jack. How did ye think we be findin' ya?"
The black haired pirate shrugged thoughtfully, "Hadn't given it much consideration, truth be told. After all, last I saw you, you were growing cold and stiff on a pile of ill-gotten Aztec gold, and the rest of 'em...just assumed were eaten by the same beasty I was."
"Not much faith in your friends, have you?" Barbossa chortled. "Yet they...continue to be prove themselves surprisingly resourceful."
"Where's William?" Jack asked then, much to his chagrin. "Young Turner be cooling his heels in the brig for the time being." he answered bluntly. Jack frowned, "And I suppose you were the one who passed that judgement?"
"Aye, and he's lucky not to get worse."
"You'll not lay a hand upon him whilst I'm captain of this ship." Jack warned, trying to pull himself from the bed then. Barbossa tried to push him back down, but Sparrow stubbornly swatted him away. "Ye wouldn't be so keen to defend him if ye knew his crime."
"I don't care what he did!" The dark haired man spat, pulling himself to his feet, falling and using the wall to push himself up again. "I'm sure whatever it is, it be a far cry from mutiny!" Barbossa stood, watching the other man as he struggled to drag himself across the cabin, but his legs would barely hold him. "Come now, Jack, that be a life time ago. And you've more than paid me back for it. Don't you think?"
Sparrow scowled at him, opened his mouth and turned as if to scold him and fell again. "Ye stubborn ass!" Hector managed to catch him before he could strike the floor face first, resulting in a rather close and intimate embrace that left both of them staring awkwardly at the other. "What are you doing?" he found himself stuttering, almost blushing as Jack clung to him and he held the half naked man hard against him in return. "I don't know...what are you doing?" Jack replied, seeming equally flustered. Hector licked his lips, trying to find the words...
The door opened and Gibbs stepped inside; "Captain sir, we need a–oh!" He blinked at the two captains locked together as they were and could not help but smirk a little. "So sorry for the intrusion, sirs. I'll come back later shall I?"
"Wipe that smirk off yer face and help me with the man, would ye?" Barbossa snarled.
"I don't need helping!" Jack replied, pushing himself away from Barbossa and steadying himself against the edge of the table. "There, see! Fit as fiddle!"
"Idiot..." the greying pirate sighed with no small amount of irritation. "Let's see ya walk the deck then." Jack gave him another scornful scowl and shakily took a few uneasy steps towards Gibbs. "It seems sir, as though you haven't quite gotten your sea legs back," his first mate offered, trying to spare Jack some dignity.
"Nonsense! I was born with sea legs!" Sparrow quipped, lurching forward like a drunk, but somehow managing to stay upright. Barbossa grabbed his shirt and waist coat and started off after him. "Damn stubborn little cur..."
Gibbs chuckled, glad to see that things might not be as bleak as they appeared.

Below deck, William sat in the one good remaining cell of the Black Pearl that hadn't been maimed or otherwise rendered useless by previous battles and escapes. He was kicking himself over and over again for his harsh words to Elizabeth. That he had actually raised a hand to her...! The very idea made him cringe. What was he turning into? Certainly not the man he thought he'd be. But the idea that he had almost lost Jack for good, and with him any chance of saving his father, all because of Elizabeth drove him to a madness he could not put to words.
He heard soft footsteps on the stairs then and turned to see the very woman approaching him. She looked sullen, angry, even frightened. And she was not alone, she'd brought Pintel with her. "You need no protection from me, Elizabeth." he said softly as she approached the bars, key in hand.
"I used to believe so, yes." she answered. "What's become of you, William Turner? You're not the man I ounce knew."
He stood, trying to reach for her but she stood back. "Forgive me, Elizabeth! I never meant to threaten you. I don't know what came over me..." He did look contrite, but she wasn't ready to forgive him. "I know." she answered. He blinked, not understanding. "It's all because of Jack. You have feelings for him."
"And you deny that you do?" He asked her sternly, bristling under the accusation.
"I care for Jack. As a friend. But my love is only for you." She reached to touch his face. "I thought you felt the same for me. Now I'm not so sure."
"Elizabeth, please..."
"You can't love us both, Will! You have to decide! Your feelings for Sparrow or your love for me, which is it?"
Will Turner remained silent, staring at the ground. His silence, his reluctance to give up one for the other, was all the answer she needed. Tears in her eyes she turned and ran from the brig, leaving Pintel alone with Will who called out to her. "That was an unfortunate misstep, if I do say so myself." the portly little pirate said. Turner leered at him before tearing the key from his hand and jamming it into the lock, freeing himself and fleeing up the steps after her.
"Elizabeth! Elizabeth!"

Up on deck he found he had lost sight of the girl but someone else was waiting for him. "Ah, Mr. Turner! Come up to join us I see."
"Jack!" He grinned brightly not hesitating a moment before throwing his arms around the pirate captain and engulfing him in a warm embrace. Jack returned it full heartedly, glad to see him safe. From across the deck, Captain Barbossa turned away bitterly, digging his nails into his palm. "There'll be time for warm reunions later. Right now Jack, I need you at the helm!" he bellowed.
"Keep yer shirt on, Hector!" Jack snapped back, extracting himself from Will. "We'll catch up later. For now, I think you'd best be making amends to your bonny lass. She looked none too happy just now..." he added before stumbling away. Gibbs gave him a careful look behind him before following Jack to the helm where Barbossa was going over the charts.
"The Mao Kun map is but part of the puzzle, ye understand. It's neigh unreadable without the proper tools, just a lot of spinning circles and riddles." He nodded to the compass that dangled from Sparrow's hip. "But with yer compass we might be able to riddle it out, understand?"
"This?" Jack asked, rolling it over in his hand, watching the needle spin idly from side to side. "Damn thing's broken. Has been ever since I..." He looked across deck and caught sight of Tia Dalma looking at him knowingly. "Oh..."
Jack fumbled awkwardly with the trinket for a moment as he took a few steps closer to Barbossa, who pretended not to know what he needed. After all, Jack still didn't know that he had been in Tia Dalma's shack all those months ago, ease dropping. "Hector, my good man," he spoke awkwardly, not wanting to look him in the eye. "Might you...that is...could you provide me with a little assistance?"
"How be that, Jack?"
Sparrow's cheeks turned red and he reached out and grabbed Barbossa's hand placing it together with his beneath the compass. "Just hold still!"
They stared, watching the needle spin madly in all directions for several seconds. All of the observing crew seeming to hold their breath. Both captains nervously watched the needle as it spun, afraid of what they might see, if anything at all. Hector tried to keep his mind on the important task at hand; getting back to the land of the living and getting himself and Jack to Shipwreck Island to convene the Court was all that truly mattered. But as sensible a man as he prided himself to be, Hector could not deny what his heart wanted most in that moment. The needle fluttered to right and then left, then swiveled and pointed squarely at Jack.
Sparrow looked up at him, stunned and gaping. Then the needle jolted again and pointed just past Jack. "North East!" Gibbs shouted from over his shoulder, elated. But both Jack and Barbossa looked disappointed. "Seven degrees starboard," Jack nodded, clapping the device shut and letting it fall to his hip again. "I knew you had it in ya, Jack!" his first mate beamed, hugging the man around the shoulders. He couldn't understand why Jack wasn't looking more relieved.
"Of course!" He grinned faintly. "The needle never lies..."
Hector scoffed and returned to the helm, looking at no one. He couldn't bare to. But just below them on the stairs, he noticed Will Turner looking up at him with a face that could have killed. It was a look Hector had seen before on a similar face.
Will had seen the compass too, and when he saw Sparrow and Barbossa exchange glances and the needle jump to Jack the way it had, he felt a wave of jealousy come over him the likes he never knew he could feel. It seemed incredulous to him; the very idea that the old villainous, traitorous pirate Barbossa would dare harbor any feeling for Jack that might be called "love". He'd hurt Sparrow, driven him to near madness and created the circumstances in which they were all horribly trapped by his own betrayal. He didn't deserve any small chance he might have with Jack. And Will was going to see to it that he didn't get another chance to finish what he'd started back on Isle de Muerta.

***

Night fell with a sudden unparalleled blackness, and the water was covered with an eerie mist that gave them all a chill. Jack was at the helm, and Hector was keeping his distance for the moment. Near the bow of the ship, seated on a net of rigging ropes, Elizabeth Swann observed the endless ocean below, her tears adding to it's salt. "There ye be, girl," Barbossa said, interrupting her solitude.
"I'd like to be alone," she replied, pulling her knees up to her chest, resting her chin on them. Barbossa nodded, but didn't leave. "Aye...I spent many a lonely night at this bow, looking out at the sea and the figure head below. She's served me well." He settled in across from her, looking down at the dark waters below. Elizabeth spoke again, glaring at the figurehead of the Pearl carved below them; "I wish I had never seen this ship. I wish none of this had ever happened."
"Aye, it might have been better that way, yes." Barbossa nodded. "But, in the end ye have to decide for yourself if the gains were worth the cost. If ye'd never seen this ship, ye might never had met young Turner in the first place."
Elizabeth tried to imagine a world without Will and found it to be a very sad thought. "He's chosen Jack over me," she admitted, "how can I live with that?" She started to cry a fresh and he grimaced, hating the sound of her tears. Awkwardly he took his coat and draped it around her trim little shoulders. "Now, now...don't be givin' up on him so easily, Elizabeth. This decision is not written in stone."
She pulled his coat a little closer around her, touched by his compassion and looked up at him again. "Do you still love Jack? As much as you did then?"
He was silent for a moment, casting about to make sure he was not overheard. "To be truthful to ya, lass...I never stopped loving him."
"Oh Barbossa," she gasped. He waved off her pity however. "It be of little consequence. He'll not forgive the wrongs I've done him in the past, Brethern Court or not. I can not ask him to."
"Seems we have a common problem then," the girl said thoughtfully. Hector raised an eyebrow below the line of his bandana. "Aye, it does."
Before either could say anything further on the matter, another presence interrupted them. Will stood behind them. "I want to speak to Elizabeth alone," he said quickly. The woman turned her head, not looking at him and huddling deeper in the pirate's coat. "It seems the lady does not wish to be in yer company, young Turner. Ye best let her be." Barbossa said approaching him. Will glared at him hard. "I'll hear it from her, thanks."
He started to move past him, but the pirate caught his shoulder and held him back, "Do not make me remove ye, boy. I would take all too much pleasure in it." He warned, blue eyes cold in the dark and the fog. But for all his intimidating appearance, Will had seen a weakness in the man that he was keen to stab at. "Fine. Then I have business with you as well."
"Do ya now?" Hector chuckled.
Will turned and motioned for him to follow. Elizabeth looked at them both apprehensively, but Barbossa waved her off, tipping his hat as he sauntered after the youth. This would prove to be interesting he was sure. He half prayed the whelp would try something physical, for he would all too dearly love the chance to continue their earlier row.
From their usual perch mid deck Ragetti and Pintel looked up from their sleeping blankets at the sight of Will and Barbossa stalking past them. The one-eyed man shook his partner awake, who snorted and grunted in confusion, "Trouble!" he whispered. The smaller man squinted in the dark then followed his gaze to the two men standing a few feet away, unaware or uncaring of their presence. "Oh this should be good," he cackled.
When they reached the quarter deck Will turned sharply, standing face to face with him. "I don't know what lies you have been feeding Elizabeth, but I want them to stop. You won't poison her against me."
Barbossa blinked at him for a moment then smiled, then began to laugh. "Oh Mr. Turner! She need not me to do that! You've done quite well enough on yer own." His eyes flickered towards the helm, where Jack was busy speaking to Gibbs and consulting his compass. "And what does he have to say about the way you've been treating your so called beloved?"
Will's eyes fell, and Barbossa chuckled again, "You've not told him that part, have you? Not told him that you haven't left her, are still trying to win her favor and keep her interest, even as you fawn over him. Jugglin' two lovers doesn't seem to be your forte, William."
"Jealous, Barbossa?" He stepped to keep Barbossa from moving away, continuing to look him hard in the face. "I saw the way you looked at him today. Are you really that stupid?"
"Careful, Mr. Turner..." the pirate hissed, a heat behind his snarled words that could have melted steel. But Will refused to see the warning signs. He was far to busy pressing on that soft wounded spot he'd found in the old man's armor. "Did you really think, even for a second, that he would go back to you? After all that you had done? That he could ever love you like he loves me? Or even the way he loved my father?" He leaned a little closer, seeing that pained look in Hector's eyes. "You're old, dried up...pitiful husk of a ounce great pirate...driven over the edge by greed. You're nothing but a bad memory to him. How could he ever trust you again, much less love you?"
Will smirked, satisfied that his words had wounded the old man sufficiently. He began to walk away, smug in his victory, when Hector grabbed him forcefully by the back of his vest and flung him against the mast. The look on his face was dark and murderous, a shadow of the old Barbossa. "Do you have any idea how I punished yer father for takin' what didn't belong to him?"
Will felt a shiver of fear pass through him at the gleam in Barbossa's eyes and gulped. "You strapped him to a canon and sent him overboard." He replied. "But we both know you're not going to kill me, Barbossa."
"Kill you?" He laughed. "Oh no, William, dear. Killin' be too good for ya. No..." He leaned a little closer to the boy, thrusting the weight of his body up against the smaller man's frame in a way that told him exactly what his intentions were. "...Before I sent yer father to the depths, I gave him a send off fittin of his crimes."
It was at that moment that he realized the trouble he'd invited by challenging a man as brutal and morally bankrupt as Barbossa. "You wouldn't dare...!"
Hector grinned. "Oh, wouldn't I?" Before Will could let out so much as a yelp, Hector was dragging him by the hair across the deck back towards the captain's cabin, which was currently abandoned.
Ragetti and Pintel exchanged fearful looks then sprang from their places, just as Elizabeth worriedly left her perch. "Where are they going?" she asked shrilly. "Where's he going?"
"Never fear, poppet!" The pudgey crewman said, patting her arm as they all started after them. "Captain Jack! Captain Jack!"

Will howled as he was thrown inside the cabin, holding his aching and stinging scalp as Barbossa barred the door behind them. "Alright, old man, you've had your fun!" he gasped, scrambling to pick himself up and find a weapon. He cursed himself for being so careless as to leave his sword below deck in the first place.
"Fun!?" the pirate scoffed with a loud laugh. "Fun? Mr. Turner, I've not had 'fun' in neigh ten years!" He grabbed him again before Will could scramble away again. "I think I'm long past due!"
"Jack! Jack!"
Hector grabbed him by the back of the neck and slammed him face down on the desk, yanking off his belt so that his trousers began to slip down. "Save yer voice, lad! You'll be needin' it for the screamin' to come!"

The door shook on it's hinges then, stopping both men. A minute later it came clean away at the hands of Jack, Gibbs and Cotton. "HECTOR!" Jack thundered, rushing in as Barbossa reluctantly relinquished his hold upon the other man.
"Jack! Oh, Jack!" Will staggered forward, reaching for the other captain and falling in his arms. "He was going to–!"
"Shh! It's alright Bootstrap, I won't–,"
"Bootstrap?"
The greying redhead rolled his eyes at the irony of it. "I was just havin' a talk with the lad. Puttin' the fear of God into him while I was at it."
Will shivered and clutched at Sparrow, who rocked him and cast an evil scathing look at Barbossa. "I'll be puttin' the fear of God into you if you come near him again, are we clear?" He asked, pointing his pistol at the man over Will's back. This time Hector wasn't so sure he wouldn't fire on him. Maybe Will was right; maybe he was just a bad memory to Sparrow.
Jack eased Will to his feet, cooing and fawning over him as they went. Barbossa had begun to regret losing his temper with the boy, until Will smirked at him wickedly over Jack's shoulder, leaving the older man standing in the cabin gawking in shock.
"That conniving little–!" He started after them but Gibbs stopped him, "Oh I wouldn't if I were you, Captain. Jack be in a right protective mood, and he's just as likely to shoot ya now as look at ye." He shook his head, trying to make sense of everything around him. How had Will fallen so far while Barbossa managed to pull himself out of his own previous dark shadow. Nothing made sense here. Worst of all the rum was running low.

Alone on the deck, Barbossa felt the sting of Will's clever little trick. He'd allowed himself to be baited into attacking him, and as a result he was more out of Jack's favor than ever. It seemed that same sort of devious cleverness was just one of the stubborn Turner traits. Frustrated and helpless to clear himself, Barbossa finally sunk down upon a crate and put his head in his hands. His goals never seemed more out of reach, and never did feel like less of a man worthy of anything but scorn.
"He provoked you, didn't he?"
He looked up, finding Elizabeth at his knee, still wearing his coat.
"Aye, and I was stupid enough to take the bait." He pulled his hat from his head and tossed it in frustration to the deck, where little Jack scurried to pick it up again. He hung his head and Elizabeth thought she caught a glimmer of tears in his eyes. "Maybe he's right. I'm just an old man who's squandered all his chances."
She moved in and put her arms around him then, much to his surprise. "We're not finished yet. I have an idea."