A/N: Hi everyone, here's the next chapter! As I mentioned last chapter, this was originally intended to be part of chapter 14 but it got quite long so I thought I'd split it into two separate chapters - that's why I'm updating so fast aha xD

Reminder that I do not own POTC or its characters

Spoilers: Jack might just have a plan... perhaps even 12% of a plan (I do apologise for that shameless Guardians of the Galaxy reference :P)

Barbossa grabbed the spokes of the helm angrily, almost violently, as he perceived the shape of the Troubadour sailing a distance in front, leading them to the Fountain of Youth. He looked down at the crew working hard on deck, none of them audacious enough to confront their captain after he had forcefully ordered them to set sail from the Cove over a day ago, few of them brave enough to ask about the whereabouts of a certain wily knave.

If one thing was certain, Jack Sparrow certainly had a knack for getting himself out of the tightest of spots. Barbossa thought that his fate was sealed, certain that by handing him over to Edgardo, as had been not-so-politely requested before they made port in Tortuga to fetch him, he would finally meet his doom.

But no, Jack Sparrow once again proved that nothing was ever certain when it came to him, and not only burned the map that could lead them to the fountain, but forced Barbossa to have to cooperate with the degenerate and savage Spaniard in order to complete his quest or abandon his dream of eternal youth altogether.

At least their loot had been properly returned to them before either of the ships had left Shipwreck Cove, it having been taken by Edgardo and the Troubadour as suitable persuasion for the Black Pearl to change course and return to Tortuga to fetch Jack Sparrow. For Barbossa, the indignity of being intimidated by another pirate was the worst part of all, and now he had to work with that same pirate in order to reach the fountain. Barbossa was no lackey, not for any man.

Looking to the starboard staircase, the sun gradually rising higher in the morning sky, Barbossa scowled when he noticed Mr Gibbs ascend and walk over to him, distrust and confusion marking his features.

"Cap'n Barbossa," he began, with the right level of cordiality that wouldn't lead to a punishment from the acrimonious captain, but with enough bitterness to warrant Barbossa's attention, "The crew have some unanswered questions they'd like ye to answer."

Barbossa turned to face the pirate, Jack's loyal first mate, and sneered. "Are they the questions of the group collectively, or just yer own opinion, Master Gibbs?"

Gibbs retained a cold, stony expression as he spoke. "Does it matter? The captain is bound by the code to show a level of transparency when addressing his crew, particularly when it pertains to the ship's hierarchy or its intended destination."

Barbossa raised his eyebrows. "What questions would ye like me to answer then?"

"Firstly, we want to know what happened to Jack, and secondly, why we appear to be followin' that ship," Gibbs pointed to the Troubadour in the distance.

Barbossa let out a hollow laugh under his breath. "Master Gibbs, Jack Sparrow is the reason we be pursuing that ship."

He noticed Gibbs' brow furrow in confusion, giving the Troubadour a long glance. "Why is Jack there and not on the Pearl?" he asked after a moment.

"As a premeditated condition of our quest to the fountain, Master Gibbs." Barbossa tilted the helm a few degrees starboard, before glancing over at Gibbs, who still looked as confused as ever.

He sighed, before relating to Jack's first mate a brief account of the events at the Cove, including Jack burning the map and being hunted by Edgardo's men and the consequent deal made between him and the Spaniard, but conveniently forgetting to mention the fact that it was his own fault that Jack had ended up in the arms of the Spaniard in the first place.

After explaining it to Gibbs, the man was silent for a moment, apparently digesting the information, before placing his hand on the railing, as though to support the extra information that had entered his skull. "Let me get this straight, Barbossa, so Jack is to provide the heading to the fountain on that ship," he pointed at the Troubadour, "And we're to follow behind, each taking an equal share in the spoils."

"Aye," Barbossa assented through gritted teeth, growing tired of Gibbs' questioning. "Though to what extent we take equal spoils of the fountain's waters is up to each pirate's own discretion," he added with a smirk.

"Anythin' else ye've failed to tell me, cap'n?" Gibbs asked with a trace of anger in his tone.

Barbossa paused before giving his answer. "Other than the fact that the Pirate King is also in attendance, in the ship's brig, nay."

He smirked as Gibbs was forced to do a double take on what he'd heard. "Elizabeth? What's she doin' here?"

Barbossa took one hand of the spokes and turned to face Jack's first mate. "I don't really care, Gibbs, so if ye'll excuse me," he gave the man a stern glare and turned back to the wheel.

A few, peaceful moments of silence passed before Barbossa heard Gibbs speak again. "I'm surprised ye've not asked for the mermaid tears yet, captain."

He rolled his eyes, still fixed on the horizon. "All in good time, Master Gibbs."

...

Jack was forced to squint as he was shoved up on deck, the bright morning sun coming as quite a shock to his senses in comparison to the perpetual semi-darkness enjoyed below deck. He'd already managed to untie his hands from the rope secured in place by the two brutish crewmen hauling him up to the helm, but there was no point in trying to resist. Even if he broke free, there was nowhere to go apart from overboard, and glancing around the horizon he noted that there was no land in sight to be washed up on.

His eyes briefly met those of Clara, the Tortugan wench he'd spent many a pleasurable night with over the last few weeks, as he was pushed up the stairs leading to the helm, straw hat still obscuring most of her face and her chestnut hair wrapped in a tight braid that reached her shoulders. Jack was immediately struck by how plain she appeared without any paint to accentuate her features, which went a long way to explain why she was seemingly able to pose as a man for such a length of time and go largely unnoticed.

Her brow furrowed as he passed her, as though she was attempting to figure something out, or figure him out, he couldn't be sure which. If he was honest, he really didn't give a damn about the woman. She was probably just some vengeful harlot who'd probably thrown her lot in with Edgardo in the hope of getting revenge on him for leaving her on that wretched pit of an island.

But then why did she sneak onto your ship disguised as a man - if she wanted revenge, why not just kill you herself? She certainly doesn't strike me as the cowardly type.

Jack pushed the voice to the back of his head. Now was not the time. There were far more pressing matters at hand, such as how on earth he was going to get off-

His eyes widened as he perceived the shape of his beloved Pearl off the horizon, following dutifully behind the Troubadour. So Barbossa and Edgardo had settled upon another agreement, presumably to each take the spoils of the fountain. Jack fought to suppress a snort. Barbossa seemed awfully desperate to taste those magical waters, so much that he'd apparently made a deal with Edgardo, a man not known for his sense of fair play or leniency. Bargaining with the devil would have made for a more honest pact, and Jack knew all about Faustian pacts and how troublesome they could be.

Perhaps if he managed to break free of Edgardo's crewmen, Jack could then jump overboard and be pulled aboard the Pearl, and then they could sail off into the distance, outrun the Troubadour and head to the fountain by themselves, leaving the Spaniard behind.

Except there was one problem. Elizabeth Swann. Why did that woman have a habit of turning up wherever she wasn't wanted? And why did she insist on making his life harder than it needed to be? Before her everything had been easy for him, but her kiss had left an inextinguishable mark that, even after two months, had not faded. She haunted both his dreams and his deliriums, and was generally a perpetual thorn in his side. No matter how many wenches he bedded to try and rid her from his mind, she remained, the taste of her lips a deadly poison that had him addicted.

She'd chosen the whelp. She'd chosen bloody stupid Will. And why did that bother him still, even after all this time? She murdered him! He should hate her, he should want to kill her and get revenge, like he had on Barbossa. But he wanted none of those things, for he still bloody wanted her.

He couldn't leave her behind and he knew that. At least if she was around him then she would be safe, oras safe as permits when one is in the company of a notorious and handsome pirate, for more reasons than smirked inwardly to himself. There was definitely more than one reason why she had insisted on remaining in his company when she could so easily have hopped on the nearest ship from the Cove to Singapore to get Sao Feng's ship back.

He was so lost in thought that he barely noticed the crewmen come to a stop on the upper deck, Edgardo standing smugly by the helm of Teague's ship. "So, Jack, how about that heading?" he said with a sneer.

Jack scanned the clear, blue horizon with a blank look on his face, relaxing back into his tried and tested tactic of playing the fool. "It would firstly help if I knew where I was, mate."

Edgardo gestured to the desk, positioned behind the helm and covered in an assortment of maps and charts. Jack rolled his eyes as the two crewmen shoved him over to the desk, still holding his arms behind his back. He glanced down at the maps, studying them for a long moment and concluding that they were at least six days away from the fountain, and three days away from the Cove. There were some other islands dotted around mainland Florida, and Jack would be willing to wager that Ponce de Leon's shipwreck was somewhere around there too.

Perhaps Jack could incite a mutiny amongst the crew, most of which had probably been manipulated into opposing Captain Teague by Edgardo, and get them to turn around and head back to Shipwreck Cove? He glanced around at the crewmen that surrounded the helm, coming to the swift conclusion that none of them seemed particularly friendly or familiar to him. Maybe Edgardo had replaced Teague's crew after the mutiny?

"Well then, Sparrow? I hope you haven't forgotten the path to the fountain already." Jeering and laughing could be heard from behind him, much of the crew gathered on the stairs and deck and watching him.

Jack looked up, noticing in his periphery that Clara had joined them by the helm, and he was instantly struck by how ill-at-ease she seemed aboard a ship - she wasn't a natural sailor and had little experience aboard ships, that much was certain. She was watching him intently, as though her whole being was dependent upon the heading he was about to provide.

An idea lodged itself into his mind. This was something he could work with. Exploit any sentiment she may feel for him and bring her over to his side. "I'm curious." He levelled his tone, knowing that he needed to play this slyly. "How did you manipulate the crew so far as to stage a mutiny against Teague?"

Edgardo pursed his lips in a thin line, taken aback by his bluntness. "In a similar way to how Barbossa once staged a mutiny against you, I believe."

"Ah, but you're forgetting something, señor." Jack managed to wrestle an arm free from the crewman's grasp, waving it in Edgardo's general direction. "Barbossa was a part of my crew, whereas I believe you have not been a member of Teague's crew for several years."

"What is the purpose of asking me this?" Edgardo asked with considerable irritation in his tone.

"Not to mention," Jack continued, undeterred. He just needed to provoke a severe enough reaction from the Spaniard to plant a seed of doubt in the young strumpet's head. Hit a nerve. Everyone who knew of Edgardo Ruiz knew of his infamous temper. "That Barbossa was so kind as to drop me off on an island, a liberty that was not extended to dear ol' Captain Teague."

"You know where he is?" Edgardo took a few steps closer to Jack, eyebrows raised.

Jack returned the pirate's gaze, letting part of his anger for the man rise to the surface. Now here was a man he wanted revenge on. "Dead."

"No." Edgardo was now only a few inches away from him. "He's where he belongs."

"I see how it is." Jack let a smirk pass onto his face, hiding his deep revulsion and disgust. "Envy is a truly pitiful sin, or so I'm told."

At that moment, something appeared to snap in the Spaniard's mind and he swung at Jack, his fist colliding into his face and sending him reeling. The two crewmen grabbed him before he was forced to suffer the indecency of falling to the ground and hauled him back to his feet. Turning back to face the Spaniard, Jack grimaced as he felt a thick, warm substance enter his mouth that he figured was probably his own blood.

He hadn't expected the Spaniard to hit him that hard.

"Your arrogance astonishes me, Jack Sparrow." Jack was going to politely point out the captain part of his name but Edgardo was faster. "To think that I could ever be envious of you..."

Jack pretended to look insulted. "What's not to be envious of?"

Edgardo's face twitched and before Jack knew it his fist had collided into his stomach, winding him. Jack's breaths came out in forced gasps, his head spinning, eyes fixed on the ground. One of the crewmen tugged on the long braid that extended from his bandana down the back of his head and roughly pulled his head up to meet the Spaniard's cold gaze. "A heading, Sparrow, por favor."

Jack gritted his teeth, beginning to feel the sting of various bruises forming on his face. "We can reach the fountain in no more than six days, providing the wind is on our side and we continue in a south to south-westerly direction," he replied, as though reciting some dull hymn or scripture. "Ponce de Leon's ship will most likely be somewhere in that direction too." Even though I've only just learnt of its existence and its apparent yet unclear relevance to the fountain, he added wryly to himself, wary of saying that part out loud. He needed to keep some cards close to his chest, after all.

The Spaniard smirked, leaning in towards his face. "See, Jack, not too difficult now, is it?"

Jack returned the man's false smile, imagining that he probably looked quite a sight with blood trailing from his nose down to his chin. His eyes briefly darted to Clara and resisted a smirk at her horrified reaction. "If that is all... captain, I would request to be returned to my guest cabin." He gave a decided look at the two crewmen still tugging his arms behind his back and holding his head upright.

"Disrespect is something I don't tolerate, mocoso. I see you've hardly changed from the twenty-something boy that crewed on this ship fourteen years ago."

Jack resisted the urge to roll his eyes or display any other behaviour that could be rightly misconstrued as boredom. "Technically, a lot of things have changed since then-"

The back of Edgardo's hand suddenly collided into Jack's other cheek, the rings on his fingers cutting into his skin. Jack's face jerked to the side and he spat blood.

Bloody hell, he thought wryly to himself, I probably look an absolute mess.

"Take him back to the brig."

A/N: Aww no poor Jack! Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it! It would be lovely to read some reviews from you lovely readers (I know you're all out there!) so please don't hesitate to let me know what you think, I swear I don't bite! :)

Response to review: River - Thank you for the review! Aww thanks I'm glad you liked the chapter and the J/E interaction - sorry for the lack of it in this one haha, it was intended to be a part of the last chapter! I'm so happy that Elizabeth's description struck a chord, I figured that after spending two months languishing away in Port Royal she would feel quite an awakening at being around Jack and danger again! Thank you! :)

Till next time!