A/N: Wow, I have 3 stories going now. That is just crazy…but if I don't get this out of my notebook/head/black hole by May, I'm screwed, so I figured I might as well do it. So…enjoy my version of At World's End (hopefully) and review (please!) but no flames, please, constructive criticism welcomed though!
DISCLAIMER: Stupid good-for-nothing-but-pirates mouse and crew… :(
… … …
Prologue
Elizabeth sat hunched over her untouched mug. Her body felt numb and disbelieving.
Captain Jack Sparrow was dead. Murdered, in fact. Why she had done it, even she didn't know. But she had done it. And she had kissed him; kissed Jack Sparrow, the dirty, lying, rum-soaked and charming pirate…no, not charming, never. Still, his smirking face loomed before her, hardly holding back the pain she had caused, telling her the word that sent her reeling: "Pirate."
Elizabeth felt a tear slip down her face.
"If there was anything that could be done to bring him back…Elizabeth-" Will had stood up, and was looking between her and Tia Dalma. The voodoo priestess's eyes lit up with mischief.
"Would ye do it?" she asked them all. "What…would you? Would ye sail t' da ends o' da Eart' do fetch back witty Jack…and 'im precious Pearl?"
There was silence for a few moments, and Elizabeth began to think that nobody had really liked Jack as much as they had said, that nobody was willing to do anything for their lost Captain. But Gibbs stepped in from the sagging porch, looking excited but nervous at the same time. He raised his mug. "Aye," he exclaimed strongly.
"Aye," Pintel said tearfully.
"Aye," Ragetti echoed. Cotton's parrot voiced its agreement.
Tia Dalma turned to Elizabeth. "Yes," she murmured, barely audible.
Will felt the powerful dark gaze turn on him, and he nodded, whispering, "Aye."
Tia Dalma smiled. "All right," she said warmly. "If you are goin' to brave da wei'd an' haunted shores at World's End…den…ye will need a Captain who knows dose waters." Still smiling her mysterious smile, she turned expectantly to the stairs.
Thunk.
The sound of a footstep; a soft leather boot appeared.
Thunk.
Elizabeth suddenly wondered whose boot it was. Was it Jack's? Her heart beat faster.
Thunk.
There was the hem of a long coat.
Thunk.
Elizabeth clutched the handle of the mug tighter.
Thunk.
No, the coat was too tattered to be Jack's…but then, who was it?
Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.
Elizabeth's jaw dropped.
"So tell me," Barbossa said, grinning insanely. "What's become of my ship?" He took a bite of an apple as Jack the monkey, chittering happily, leapt to his shoulder.
"It's not your ship," Elizabeth said automatically. The rasp of a sword being unsheathed drew everyone's attention to Will.
"What are you doing here?"
Barbossa frowned. "I might put the same question t' ye, whelp," he growled.
"Call me whelp one more time and you'll find out," Will snarled back. Elizabeth set down her mug and put her hand gently on his shoulder.
"Will, he's going to help us find-"
"Him? He's going to help us find your beloved Jack? I don't care. I don't trust him."
"Well ye should, Mister Turner, seeing as he's the only outta the lot o' ye that's been to World's End," Tia Dalma said.
"I still don't trust him!"
"Calm yeself, William. Put away your sword and be still."
Reluctantly, Will obeyed. "I'm sure he's the only one who's been to World's End, but I don't trust him," he mumbled, sitting back in his chair.
Barbossa came down the remaining two stairs and accepted a drink in a bottle from Tia Dalma before sitting himself. "Ah, and Miss Swann! How lovely to see ye."
Elizabeth nodded stiffly.
"And?" Tia Dalma prompted, staring around the room. Gibbs gave her a confused look.
"Are ye goin' to follow my orders, or not?" Barbossa said bluntly.
The crew hesitated, but Elizabeth folded her arms. "I trust him," she said confidently. Gibbs backed her up with a vote of confidence, and Cotton's parrot gave a somewhat reluctant squawk of approval while Pintel and Ragetti nodded their assent. All attention turned to Will.
"I'll follow his orders, nothing more," Will said coldly.
Elizabeth thought his mood odd. He hadn't seen…had he? If he had…she shuddered. Hateful, nasty thought, to put it in Jack's mannerism.
"Ye can all sleep in da hut down riva," Tia Dalma said, pulling Elizabeth from her thoughts. "Ye'll get a ship in da mo'ning."
"'Ow's that?" Ragetti said. Tia Dalma cast her dark gaze on him, and he shrank back.
"Da riva people do not share dere secrets even wit' me, though I am one o' dem. I do not know."
… … …
Barbossa sat down at the small table across from Elizabeth. "We have old scores to settle, it seems," he said.
"What scores? I owe nothing to you," Elizabeth said.
The candle between them flickered as Barbossa let out a breath. "Correct me if I'm wrong, Miss Swann. Seems t' me I've saved ye quite a few times."
Elizabeth met his gaze steadily. "When was that?"
"Pirate's Code," he responded, "applies only to pirates, aye? So how was it that ye were under the protection of parlay when Bo'sun hit ye? Hmm? And would he have not drowned if I hadn't taken that dress?"
She had to admit that he was right, and she was sure that there were more instances that he hadn't mentioned. "All right. So we do. What payment do you require?" she asked.
Barbossa studied her closely. "For now," he said, "which means I will not be satisfied only with this, I want ye to answer some questions. I want ye to answer them honestly."
Elizabeth considered for a moment. "Fine."
"Good," Barbossa said, grinning his rotted grin. Then it slid off. "Why did ye kill Jack Sparrow?"
Elizabeth's head jerked up. "How did you-"
"By word of me darlin' Dalma."
"Oh." She pressed down around a stinging cut around her palm to take away some of the pain. There were a few reasons that fit the question that she could think of, but they fit there like the wrong piece in a jigsaw puzzle. So she gave the best-fitting answer she had: "I don't know."
Barbossa continued to stare with his piercing stare. "I see," he said finally.
"Now I want to ask you something," Elizabeth said.
"Fire away."
She took a deep breath. "Can I trust you?"
Barbossa slowly pushed back his chair and stood. Elizabeth followed suit. The answer he tossed over his shoulder as he walked away surprised her. "I don't know. Can ye?"
"Would it be a dangerous thing to place trust in you?" she said rephrasing the question quickly.
Barbossa stopped. Although he hadn't turned around, Elizabeth could tell he was grinning again. "Would it indeed?" he said evasively, and disappeared behind a door.
A/N: There you are, the prologue. The first few chapters will be pretty fast-paced, but it will slow down by about chapter 5 or 6 or 7. Please review…it makes me very happy :-D