Yo, here's chapter 5.^^ Have fun.

Reviews are appreciated (how do you like the characters, the story, their reactions...)

Warning: /
Pairing: BarbossaxOC (Lyssa)
slight AU

Chapter 5 – "We are people of freedom."

"Are you perhaps... interested in a large treasure? More gold than you've ever wanted?" He wiggled his eyebrows at her, trying to convince the younger Bonny sister. Meanwhile her older sister had come down from the crow's nest and stepped up beside her, frowning at the man.

Elaina had a rough idea where this was going, so she decided to be blunt. "Does this treasure have anything to do with Spanish skull-faced gold coins, an English woman and a ship that happened to be yours once?"

Jack blinked at that, seemingly surprised she knew about that. The man beside him gasped. "You've met Elizabeth?" he questioned, his eyes flittering from Elaina to Lyssa and back. "Aye," the other captain finally said, a smirk on his face. "We were sailing towards the Isla de Muerta."

The two sisters exchanged a quick glance. It seemed like fate truly wanted them to go there. "Fine... but be aware that I will not tolerate any indiscipline onboard of my ship and that I will not hesitate to throw anyone overboard who annoys me or causes me any trouble. Are we clear?" she stated, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Crystal," Jack agreed, ushering his crew towards the other ship. The other man still stared at the female pirates while he walked. The rest of the crew followed after them - they did not look like real pirates, rather like a poor excuse of them. "He knows the way to the Island?" Lyssa questioned quietly, eyeing the other captain curiously.

"I assume he does. He must have been there, before he was marooned," Elaina replied quietly and stepped back to the helm as Jack and the other man she didn't know approached them.

Sparrow smirked at them both as they stopped in front of them. "So..." He hesitated for a moment. "You still need the heading, right?" The other man rolled his eyes.

"Unless you want to swim to the Isla de Muerta, you will tell me the course now," Elaina said calmly, but the undertone in her voice clearly held a warning. She would not let him take the helm or boss her crew around.

Jack's eyebrow twitched nervously. "Of course, love, that was just the thing I wanted to do." His friend snorted, earning a glare. "Shut up, William." Then, he turned back towards the two sisters. "Into your cabin?"

"Fine, come along then," Elaina sighed and had John take the helm while she took the man named William, Jack and her sister to her quarters.

The two men were impressed when they saw the captain's quarters - it looked quite fancy for a pirate ship. Lyssa stared at the eccentric pirate for a moment, her fingers twitching. He knew about the cursed island, but how much did he know?

Elaina asked her guests and her sister to sit down at the desk while she got some rum for them; no one should be able to claim that she was a bad hostess. "So tell me… What do you know about the Isla de Muerta?" she asked as she sat down in her cozy armchair, filling the cups with rum. "Uh, well..." Jack began, "It's a cursed island and the treasure that's hidden where, courtesy of one Hernán Cortés, is cursed." Lyssa nodded thoughtfully. So it was Cortés who had hidden his treasure there. "And it can only be found by those who know where it is - like me." "Is the entire treasure cursed or only the Aztec coins? Barbossa asked for this particular coin only, not for anything else I had on my ship, and there was still a lot of gold," Elaina asked, taking a gulp of her drink.

Jack shrugged at this question, following the captain's example and finishing his cup of rum in one big gulp. "Never been there, actually," he admitted. "Dear Hector mutinied me as soon as I knew the course towards the island." "I see... any ideas what this curse is? What happens to those who were cursed?" the captain asked, not willing to just sail into the blue, hoping to find god-knows-what. At that, Sparrow chuckled again. "Heard that they're immortal, but can neither eat, nor drink, nor enjoy the company of wenches..." He shook his head and Will grimaced, obviously disgusted. "Poor, poor Hector." Lyssa frowned. "They're simply skeletons, undead, ghosts... Many a story has been told about my dear Black Pearl and the ghosts living on 'er."

"Then we better try and avoid a fight with the dead," Elaina suggested and grabbed a large map before she unrolled it on the table. "Mark me the exact location of the island," she then said and handed Jack a quill. The ship-less captain glanced at her. "Do we have an accord?" he asked. "That I and my dear friend William here, can stay on your ship until we're on the island?" He took the quill, letting it hover over the map, but still looking at Elaina with a smirk. "Aye, we do," Elaina said, smirking back at him as she waited for him to mark the spot; that was all she needed.

His smirk widened as he made a small dot somewhere in the Caribbean Sea and handed the feather back to her. "Well, where are our quarters?"

Elaina closed her eyes for a moment. She had originally intended to just tie the two of them to the wings of her gorgeous Phoenix, but since it wasn't just the two of them who resided on her ship for a while, she would not be that mean. "I will make sure the two of you and the rest of your crew will get cozy hammocks during your stay," she then replied.

The other captain grinned at that. "Thank you for your hospitality, love. But pray tell, why are you so interested in the island?" His eyes briefly went towards the redhead who seemed fascinated by what she had heard.

"Actually, I'm not interested in this island at all. My sister here is the expert for magical mumbo-jumbo. But I dislike secrets very much, so I'd like to know what this is all about, the girl in particular," Elaina replied, refilling Jack's mug. "The skull coins are Aztec gold... does this curse have anything to do with a human sacrifice?"

Will muttered something under his breath, but Sparrow chuckled. "Ah, the Aztecs and their sacrifices, right?" He raised a brow as Lyssa narrowed her eyes at him. "What kind?" she questioned softly, but intrigued. "I don't know the details, but it could be a blood sacrifice, or a virgin one..." He laughed. "But certainly nobody on this ship has to be afraid of the latter, aye?"

The two sisters briefly glanced at each other, then quickly averted their gazes before each of them simultaneously took a gulp of their drink. "So that's why he took the girl... but why her of all people?" Elaina then asked quickly, still not understanding all the connections.

Sparrow blinked at them, his smirk widening, but he looked at them in slight disbelief. "The coin she had..." Will muttered, raising his head. "It was mine originally, but she took it from me when we were children, I thought I lost it..." He seemed to be recall some memories.

"When you were children? So where did you get that coin from?" Elaina asked, wondering how children that grew up in a usually protected environment would get their hands on pirate gold.

Will lowered his gaze. "I was on a trader ship when pirates attacked, Elizabeth was on a Navy ship that came by and picked me up. I had been given the coin by my father before he... went back to the sea." "He was a pirate," Jack interrupted with a smirk. "Bootstrap Turner was 'is name."

"Turner, you say?" Elaina asked and seemed to remember something. "What is your name?" "Elisabeth... Turner." Oh yes, that was it. "They mistook her for you..." Elaina concluded as she looked at William.

"What?" he questioned, his eyes widened. "You... you've met her?" Even Jack seemed interested in the conversation now. Lyssa frowned. They needed the blood of the coin's owner? Or not like that...

"I did. When I asked her for her name, she called herself Elisabeth Turner. Nothing special, but here's the twist of fate," Elaina said and pulled a fancy looking piece of parchment from a drawer of her desk. "A couple of days ago we were attacked by pirate hunters. They weren't a big deal, really, but one of them had this with him," she added and showed Will the note: an order from the Royal Navy to find the pirates who kidnapped the governor's daughter. "It says Elisabeth Swann, doesn't it? But they need the blood of a Turner, as it seems. They were not after her, they were after you."

"Of course, that must be why the pirates took her with them instead of leaving her somewhere..." Will muttered as his eyes studied the note. "She must have been afraid they were after her because of her connection with the governor," Lyssa added as an afterthought. Jack had narrowed his eyes a bit, his eyes roaming over the two female pirates, then his gaze focused on Will. "That's good, you've at least a bargaining chip to save your lass," he grinned.

"So we are going to face a captain and crew of undead pirates with a cursed ship, a damsel in distress and a pile of gold we don't want to touch... What do you think of this, Lyssy?" Elaina asked her sister with a slight smirk, sensing a great adventure.

The redhead's eyes sparkled. "I can't wait," she said, her voice could not hide her excitement and Will looked at her a bit confused. "Do you think we get to see the skeletons?" she questioned, smiling in anticipation.

"Probably in the dark," Elaina chuckled and rose from her seat. "Well then, gentlemen... let's set course for the Isla de Muerta!" she announced with a bright smile.

The markswoman smiled and opened the door and the small group stepped outside. The crew of the Phoenix had finished bringing the cargo on board and was ready to continue their journey. John came up to them, staring down at the unfamiliar men. "Everything in order, captain?"

"We have a new course, John. Please see to it that the quartermasters accommodate our guests for the time being," the captain replied with a smile and patted her first mate on the shoulder. "Off we go, gentlemen! Hoist the sails and cut the ropes!" she then yelled.

"Aye, captain!" Will studied the working crew curiously - it seemed much different from what their make-shift crew had done on the Interceptor. Lyssa stepped towards him and smiled as she noticed his gaze, hesitating slightly before speaking. "You're... you're not much of a sailor, are you?" she asked quietly, not looking directly into his face.

"I'm a blacksmith, actually, but Jack claims that I'm already a pirate by blood. As if," Will replied with a rather sour expression, he was certainly not keen on being called pirate.

The redhead frowned as they walked towards the railing. "Well, even if some of us have pirate blood in us, it doesn't mean we necessarily have to be one." She chuckled slightly. "My sister and I followed the call of the sea though."

"Oh yeah, that's another thing... who are the two of you? I mean, how comes that two women are in charge of such a huge ship and so many men?" Will asked, obviously confused by the situation, since it was common knowledge that women were not allowed on ships unless they were temporary passengers.

"My name is Lyssa Bonny, my sister's Elaina Bonny and we grew up wanting to be pirates. We have it in our blood as well," she began to explain. "With the help of our late mother's friend we were able to get the control over a ship. It's been two year since we got the Scarlet Phoenix." She smiled again. "Before having our own ship, we've worked on other pirate ships. It wasn't always easy, but we made do."

"So, your father was a pirate, too?" Will asked, his smile never leaving his lips as he listened to the story. He was truly interested in how two ladies about his age were able to become so powerful. Lyssa frowned slightly. "Aye, but not as notorious as our mother," she told him. "You may even now her name. Does Anne Bonny ring a bell?"

Will looked greatly surprised for a moment. Anne Bonny and Mary Read, two famous women among the pirates, and also among the English society, since Anne had been the bastard daughter of a rich man. "Yeah, I've heard of her. Does that mean your father was Calico Jack Rackham?" Will asked, his eyes had grown wide, for both were famous pirates, even though their departure was not the happiest.

Lyssa nodded with a quiet giggle. "You see, piracy is in our blood, but we wouldn't want it any other way." She looked towards the ocean, her red hair gently blowing in the wind. "Freedom isn't the right to live, or the right to not be a slave. It's every breath you take, every day you smile, every beat of your heart… It's the right to choose how you want to live, how you want to spend the rest of your days."

Her eyes flickering with long since extinguished fire. "We are people of freedom, and we're always searching for it. Many people don't understand the need for freedom we pirates have. But it is wonderful to feel it, this freedom." She smiled happily.

"Probably because the freedom you love so much comes at an immoral price. You rob and murder honest people, without caring about the lives you ruin. You-" Will's rambling was interrupted when a little blade attached to a robe landed in the wood, right beside his hand he had on the railing.

"Oh please, as if you lot were any better," Elaina said, holding the other end of the rope in her hand, the sudden noise of the dagger startled everyone nearby. "You hunt us down and execute us, hang up our corpses for the crows to feed on, and you don't give a damn about us. In your eyes, pirates are nothing but scum, but you fail to see that we are also someone's parents, children, siblings or cousins. We also have places we call home and people we hold dear. The only difference between you and us is that we decided not to be slaves, not to the Spaniards and not to the British Empire."

Lyssa sighed, disappointed in him. This kind of reaction was the reason why she did not like to talk about this with non-pirates. Because these people simply did not understand, like her sister just said. "Laina..." she muttered, her gaze briefly meeting Will's eyes, before she looked at the ground. "Ha!" Jack suddenly shouted and came up to them. "But as I already said: dear William's father was a pirate and even one of the best I've ever known!"

"Too bad he wasn't raised a pirate," Elaina sighed and pulled her knife back up, putting it back into its holster on her belt. "Do you enjoy the view, Jack?" she then asked teasingly. Jack smirked. "Of course, how could I not on that lovely ship of yours, dear Elaina." Lyssa rolled her eyes, now ignoring Will, who guiltily hung his head.

Elaina merely chuckled and beckoned Sparrow to follow her. She did not care much for the other one at the moment.

Even though she disliked Jack's attitude sometimes, Elaina knew he was smart and that was what she needed when she sailed for a cursed island. Furthermore, the code said that pirates must respect each other, and that was what she was going to do. "Come with me to the helm, I'm sure you know one or two obstacles we might face on our way. As for you, big sister, up to your lookout, I've put a little surprise for you up there," Elaina said with a smirk and walked off to the helm.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Do leave a review about what you like and dislike.^^

You probably have watched the fifth movie by now, have you? Did you like it? I obviously did not like the ending (for obvious reasons. XD )

Adamantia13