Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. I do not have permission to write this. I do not have permission for most things.

Author's Note: Hello hello, and welcome to this story. Now, I have been roleplaying as the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow for nearly as long as I've been writing about him, and at the end of the completely spectacular Dead Man's Chest, I've been left to wonder exactly what will become of myself for the next three hundred plus days until the third movie. So…I decided to write. Since I now am privy to more information than before, thanks to the movie, I've decided I want to rewrite an old story of mine. It's alright if you haven't read it, as I don't really like it. I hope I like this one better until it's proved wrong by the third movie… Until then, enjoy!

By the way, if you have not seen Dead Man's Chest, I would suggest you do not read this. I have major spoilers… Oh, and this is subject to change as I watch the movie again and again. Need to get it perfectly right.

Reviews would greatly be appreciated! The more I get, the more likely I am to post the next chapter tomorrow. If I don't get many, well, I might just have to wait to post it until I get back from my family vacation on July 22.

Prologue: The End

It was a terrifyingly stunning day, really, one that the Caribbean was quite famous for having. The sun was shining; the waters were a brilliant blue and easy to look into. There was no hint of hurricane or storm or even small squall anywhere on the horizon. A man could lean from the railing of his ship and see for miles in any direction. Couldn't ask for better conditions to go sailing about, actually, even if all you were using to get from point A to point B was a small longboat. There was a gentle black behemoth floating gracefully above the pristine waters, her patched black sails desperately trying to harness the power of the wind and move those on board away from where they currently were. It was to no avail, of course, because the infamous ship known as the Black Pearl was in the clutches of something every mariner feared. Large tentacles, belonging to a leviathan that was said to be the length of ten ships with suckers that could rip a man's face clean off his head and a stench of a thousand corpses on its breath, were busy snaking their way along the deck of the pirate ship, looking to drag people to the depths in order to exact some sort of revenge for the trick pulled on it. The Kraken was used to a rather quick operation, when dealing with ships, and had been terribly surprised indeed when the volley of cannonballs had hit it during its first attempt to bring the Pearl down. It could not fail its master. Davy Jones gave no room for failure. The marked man, Jack Sparrow, was going to meet his fate this beautiful day.

Captain Jack Sparrow stood up on the bridge with a rifle in his hands, carefully taking aim at a barrel falling from a net full of kegs of powder and rum, taking his time to ensure that he hit said barrel in just enough time as to give the young William Turner a chance for survival. Elizabeth Swann sat on a step below the infamous Captain, clutching his leg as she waited to learn if she was going to die unmarried in a few moments or if this would buy them the time necessary in order to escape. The crew of the Black Pearl had been whittled down, one by one, and there were now only eight souls alive. This terrible beastie obviously meant business. If it hadn't been for the black spot on Jack's hand, he wouldn't be here decimating the crew of the once proud captain and his prized ship. Pity he couldn't have enjoyed her longer. Though Will's plan of grouping kegs of powder with rum in a net and raising it for the Kraken to find was inspired, it would only buy time. The beastie wouldn't be called off the hunt unless Jones called it off, and since Jack hadn't had the leverage he'd planned on having… Well, there seemed no way to call the thing off. The Pearl had no chance, and neither did the remainder of the crew unless they bought time with this risky chance.

Jack found himself wondering had he stayed behind instead of temporarily leaving to go and fetch the still beating heart of the infamous Davy Jones if he would have come up with something that would be as crippling to the deadly leviathan as this idea of an expoding Trojan Horse. The only problem was that Will's plan was literally being torn to pieces as crewman after crewman found himself dead and the mastermind found himself stuck. The kegs were flying out of the net because Will finally resorted to cutting himself free after the Kraken grabbed onto it with one of those dreaded tentacles. Jackwaited for the man to hit the deck, located an ideal barrel and shot. The little ball of lead travelled exactly where it was supposed to, hitting the keg of powder. It exploded, setting off a chain reaction that resulted in a fiery explosion, scorching the tentacles of the dreaded leviathan. Immediately, they withdrew, much like a child pulls its hand back from a warm stove. The beast was no doubt in a lot of pain and very angry, but the crew had a fighting chance, now. Jack slowly put the gun down and started down the steps leading to the main deck, a saddened look in his eyes of resignation. All the effort he'd gone to, all the hours he'd spent searching for the Pearl after the mutiny…it was all in vain.

The remainder of the crew slowly came from their hiding places. Marty, in particular, had a look of horror in his eyes as he surveyed the burning remains of tentacle and dead bodies of his former crewmates as he moved a net out of the way. "Did we kill it?" he questioned, warily. Why couldn't the stupid thing just die?

"No, we just made it angry. We're not out of this yet," Joshamee Gibbs replied. The loyal first mate, looked towards Jack with worry in his blueeyes. He respected the oddly dressed man, knowing him to be a very fine captain with many insane ideas that had a habit of working. It didn't bother him at all that Jack chose to wear mementoes of his past woven in his dark hair for all to see. Or that the man wore kohl when really only strumpets bothered putting such a thing on. Jack's odd hand gestures andclumsiness while walking about were actually something rather comforting.Gibbs sawsomething in Jack's eyes that he'd seen before, before all this nonsense in which he'd been terrified for his life. Jack had some sort of plan, so he asked, "Captain, orders?"

"Abandon ship, into the longboat," came the reply, surprising nearly everyone aboard. They knew how much Jack loved his ship as well as they knew that she could stand a fighting chance against Davy Jones's terrifying Flying Dutchman. Surely he had some sort of plan to outwit the Kraken and outsmart the devil...

Gibbs was able to speak first, a tone of incredulity to his voice. "But, Cap'n, the Pearl-"

"She's only a ship, mate," Jack interrupted, glancing at the man with such a look in his eyes as to almost chill the bone. Jack had obviously already reached his decision on the matter and didn't want to be questioned on it. Every moment they spent on the deck was closer to the moment the Kraken would return.

"He's right. We have to leave," Elizabeth chimed in, anxiously.

"Lots of open water," Pintel pointed out, glancing towards the Isla Cruces. The chances that they'd make it all that way without the Kraken getting them seemed slim to none.

"Lot of water," Ragetti agreed, hoping for one of those brilliant but insane plans that Captain Jack Sparrow was famous for. The look in Jack's eyes seemed to say otherwise.

"We have to try. We can get away as it takes the Pearl." Will knew that the Kraken would have to destroy the ship before it realized that the man bearing the black spot was gone. The Kraken was too inflamed to leave the ship alone. Unfortunate turn of events, really, because he had been hoping to save Bootstrap Bill, his twice-cursed pirate father, by using the Pearl.

"Abandon ship," Gibbs said simply. He added, "Abandon ship or abandon hope," to spur Cotton, Marty, Ragetti, and Pintel into action. They needed to get into the last remaining longboat. Really, it had been fortunate Jack had tried going back to the Isla Cruces to find that heart, or the Kraken would've destroyed all ways of escaping.

Jack, meanwhile, turned to his ship once more, determined to say his final goodbyes. She had been such a good ship. He calmly put his hand on the main mast, wishing his bargain with Davy Jones had been longer than just thirteen years. Certainly wasn't long enough to get to know a ship as fine as the Pearl, especially since he'd been without her for those ten miserable years. "Thank you, Jack," a distinctly feminine voice said as the others prepared to launch the longboat.

Jack was only slightly surprised to hear Elizabeth speak. He looked at her and said, "Not free yet, luv."

Elizabeth smiled slightly, stepping closer to him. "You came back," she continued. "I always knew you were a good man." She kissed him, passionately, as they both stepped towards the mast. All thought of honor had fled her mind and Jack was left getting quite a nice taste of what it would be like to have a woman like Elizabeth. To say he was enjoying it was rather understating the truth.

Will was busy climbing down to the longboat when he happened to notice Elizabeth and Jack sharing their final goodbye. He stared for a moment, clearly bewildered. Elizabeth was his fiancée, and she was kissing a pirate? "Prepare to cast off, no time to lose," Gibbs ordered anxiously, wanting to put as much distance between the sole longboat and the doomed ship as possible. "Come on, Will, step to!" Will seemed to snap out of his reverie and quickly got into the longboat. Exactly what had happened while he'd been on the Flying Dutchman?

The rather heated kiss between Elizabeth and Jack stopped shortly after a loud click was heard. As Elizabeth pulled away, the captain smirked very slightly at her, knowing exactly what that click meant. He was not to come with them. She intended for him to go down with his ship, like any good and honorable captain would.

"It's after you, not the ship. Not us," Elizabeth explained. She sounded as though she were having a hard time speaking as Jack merely continued to slightly smirk at her. "This is the only way, don't you see? I'm not sorry," she added, almost angrily.

"Pirate," Jack accused appreciatively before smirking at her, admiration clearly visible in his kohl lined eyes. She was going to prove he was a good man by forcing him to do the right and proper thing. After all, she was right. The Kraken was after him, not the other seven survivors, as he bore the black spot. He glanced down at his wrist, curious as to what she'd used to chain him to the mast. The irons were simple, really, and relatively short. Where had she found them? And how long had she been planning this? The idea of going down with his ship while unable to be free and independent of her was sour in his mouth because above all else, he cherished freedom the most. She was forcing him to do the right thing and in making him do so was giving him no choice in the matter. It was almost as bad as compelling him to sail under a Letter of Marque.

"Where's Jack?" Will asked the moment that Elizabeth boarded the small longboat. They were all looking at her anxiously, though Will seemed to have something else behind those brown eyes of his. Was it possible he'd seen her kiss the pirate?

"Jack elected to stay behind to give us a chance," Elizabeth elucidated quickly. "Go!" she said a bit sharply as they all paused. The Kraken would be back at any moment. She didn't want to change her mind and go back for Jack, either. She truly wasn't sorry. It had to be done to protect the greater good.

If Jack was going to go down with his ship, there was no way he was going to do so chained to his mast like some sort of ritualistic offering. As the seconds ticked away, he pulled desperately at the metal band around his wrist, stretching to the point it hurt. He'd slipped out of so many chains, had so much experience doing this, but he'd never felt this much desperation. "Bugger bugger bugger," he said exasperatedly, as he put his foot on the mast and pulled against the chain with all his might. He glanced around deck, looking for some other way to go about getting free. The angle of it was changing, signifying that the terrible beastie had come back for its prize. A cannonball rolled down the deck as Jack caught sight of a lamp above the arm of one of the casualties of the beastie's last attack. He quickly pulled out his sword and stretched. "Come here," he pleaded gently, somehow managing to put his blade through the metal loop on top. Quickly, he spun it around and broke the glass on the mast he was chained too, pouring oil onto his trapped hand. "Come on you…" he urged, trying to fit his hand through the hole. The oil was starting to help, he could feel his hand coming out as his rings started slipping off. Elizabeth seemed to have more experience chaining a man up properly than most of the navies combing the Caribbean for pirates. Generally he didn't have to resort to using hot oil to get free. "I've got it, come on!" His hand suddenly pulled free of the chains as he smelled the horrid stench that accompanied the Kraken, his triumphant grin quickly fading.

He turned to stare at death, apparently unafraid. There was no way for the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow to escape from this as the Kraken didn't entirely seem capable of conversation. It was through conversation that Jack generally ferreted himself out of trouble. He would go down with his precious Pearl like any noble captain would, wishing there could've been something he could do to protect her. It wasn't her fault he'd made a deal with the devil and lost. It was better that she was going back down to the depths in this way, rather than from some sort of storm, reef, insolent naval attack, or even disrepair. She was dying a glorious death, one that would be remembered for generations. Jack could almost hear the rumors now: 'Do you remember 'ow Captain Jack Sparrow finally met 'is Maker? They says that 'e fought a Kraken for nigh un'o three days before 'e finally took down Jack an' 'is ship, the Black Pearl.' At least he wasn't snuffing out of this world like some sort of troglodyte. Captain Jack Sparrow would be discussed long after this, as well as the Black Pearl. She'd been worth the price he'd paid to bring her to the light of day once more, withstanding the Kraken as long as she had and all.

The Kraken suddenly started spitting very putrid slime at the captain as he stood motionless, grateful his mouth hadn't been open. His hat, which had been dropped overboard shortly after Jack escaped from a Turkish prison, suddenly came out of the mouth lined with countless teeth along with all the slime and landed near his foot. Once the Kraken was finally finished, Jack shivered at the thought of what was all over him. He then calmly wiped some of the mucus-like material from his mouth and commented with, "Not so bad." He wiped some of the gunk from his eye and then glanced down and spotted his familiar tri-cornered hat. "Oh!" he exclaimed, rather excitedly. In a graceful, sweeping movement, he flicked some of the slime off his hat and put it onto his head, becoming complete again. No one would be able to say that Captain Jack Sparrow went out as a coward. Of course, no one would know that he'd met death so heroically, either. Rather ironic, since he had been curious as to what it would be like to be lauded. He grinned. "'Ello, beastie." He drew his sword and stepped forward, paused for a brief moment, and then went into the mouth full of razor sharp teeth, wondering how his hat had survived the journey. It was time to meet his and the Pearl's destiny.