Sorry this took so long. I got a little sidetracked, and kept forgetting to update. Thankyou so much to Syntyche and HogwartShinobi for reviewing last chapter! This is for you guys!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What calls to us Pirates

By Plushie

Chapter 2: Forward to Tortuga

The Pearl was sitting behind a large outcropping of rock, her black body and sails barely able to be seen against the night sky unless you were looking for it. The three figures rowing in a small boat were barely able to be seen as well. The glint of moonlight on the wet oar was about the only thing someone would see if they walked past, but even then it would be dismissed as simply a trick of the night. Will bit his lip and glanced at Elizabeth every five minutes, but she soon caught onto that and sent him back spine-chilling glares. Jack was left to do all the work, and the pirate captain found this a poor arrangement.

"Oi, Will, you do this." Jack ordered. Will frowned at him but did as he was told and Jack sat back next to Elizabeth. He sighed and tilted his head back so he could gaze up at the stars before looking back across to see the black shape of his beloved ship. He loved to just gaze at her, and watch as she bobbed gently in the sea. It was a wonderful sight.

A beautiful sight! He grinned as he watched it come closer and closer, and his feet longed to have those creaky boards under them again. One might say he was crazy to love a ship as much as he did, but then one might also say that any type of love was a good love. It all depended on how you looked at the situation, and Jack was looking at the whole situation. The Pearl was his ship, and his ship alone. He controlled her, and she listened. That was the way it worked.

"Jack. Jack Sparrow!" a voice demanded, trying to pull him out of his dreamland. Jack frowned.

"Captain Jack Sparrow, luv." he replied, turning to Elizabeth and she rolled her eyes.

"Are you alright? Will's been trying to ask you a question for the past five minutes and you've just been ignoring him." Elizabeth said. Jack looked towards the boy and noticed the glare he was getting before sighing and sitting up, dragging his eyes from the Pearl again.

"What is it me boy?" Jack asked. Will sighed and tried again.

"Where are we going to go? The map tells us how to get there, but surely there's some catch to it?" Will asked. Jack shrugged and adjusted his hat so it was sitting a bit more comfortably on his head.

"Don't need to be a catch does there? As long as we have the path to the treasure, and the treasure is at the end of that path once we get there, then, the treasure will be ours!" Jack said with a smile, "But first…"

"Knew it…" Will muttered and Jack frowned before finishing his sentence.

"We have to go to Tortuga."

"Knew that was coming." Elizabeth commented, turning her face away and crossing her arms. Will's eyes widened slightly.

"Why? What are we going to find there?" Will asked angrily, "Apart from more rum."

"Exactly!" Jack replied, rubbing his hands together and then readjusting his rings, "More rum! What more could you ask for?"

"Are you serious?" Elizabeth asked as she turned back to face the captain. Jack blinked at her and the two people in the small boat who didn't live on rum, looked at each other and instantly knew the captain was in no way joking. Will let the matter go, for now, and looked up at the ship that he had just pulled up alongside.

"Come to see us again, eh Will?" Gibbs called as he looked down over the railing. He laughed heartily and took another swig from his bottle, "Thought you were just goin' land-ward ta see abou' a few things cap'n!"

"I did!" Jack returned, climbing up the rope ladder that had just been thrown down to them, "And here I am back with those few things, mate. Savvy?" and he ignored the offered hand as he stepped up onto the deck. Breathing deeply, Jack took in the smell of his ship, the smell of the rum in Gibbs' hand and the smell of the salt of the ocean all at once. Will climbed up behind him and then helped Elizabeth up. Every person on the deck looked towards them.

"Elizabeth! William!" They all cried and rushed over, most of them swaying drunkenly. Jack nicked Gibbs' bottle and took a heavy swig before returning it to his first mate and making for his room.

"Marty! We 'ave a heading!" Jack called, and the small dwarf hurried up to him, "Tortuga." And Marty saluted happily and ran to the helm. Will helped pull the anchor up and Elizabeth was called to help with the sails. Once they had done that, and the ship was sailing peacefully into the night, Jack came out of his cabin to call Elizabeth and Will in there after him. Gibbs was invited too… until Jack realized he was too drunk to be coherent and told the first mate to go and get some sleep. Outside, before the door shut, Will and Elizabeth heard Mr Cotton's bird singing 'dead man's chest'.

"Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum! Fourteen men on a dead man's chest, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!" the bird sang in a halting voice. Elizabeth shook her head as she walked into the cabin, and Will shut the door behind them. The bird was instantly cut off, and Jack sat down behind his desk and picked up a pair of divider's and began pacing them across the map that Will had just stolen. Elizabeth looked down at the map for a moment before her eyes widened.

"That's Commodore Norrington's map!" she said and looked between the two men.

"Indeed it is, luv." Jack responded absently as he continued pacing the divider's over the map in front of him.

"You stole it!" she accused and Jack sat up and looked at her.

"I did not." he replied, offended before pointing at Will, "He did." Will jumped and frowned.

"Thanks Jack. You told me to do so!" Elizabeth looked between them before deciding it wasn't worth pursuing this train of conversation, and let the matter drop. Jack looked up with his classic wide-eyed, 'what are you talking about?' look. Will frowned and was about to speak when Elizabeth spoke over him.

"Never mind. Just… go on Jack." and she indicated the map with a short wave of her hand. Will was still steaming, but he calmed down as Jack began telling them interesting facts about the map.

"It's an odd little thing, there ain't no mistakin' that, but, it's got me buggered." and he pushed his hair back over his shoulder with a tinkle of trinkets before bending over the map again.

"Ya see, this ere, it's an island I've never even heard of." he said, pointing to a small island on the map. It was shaped like a round ended crescent moon.

"What's this here?" Elizabeth asked, leaning over it and tapping at the line that ran jaggedly through the middle of the island Jack was looking at. The captain shrugged.

"How the bloody hell would I know?" he growled, moving out from behind his desk and around to them, "Thus, that is the reason, and the point to our little trip to Tortuga." and he grinned as he tapped Will on the chest and then moved towards the door. Will blinked at Elizabeth, who looked equally perplexed, before they hurried after the captain.

"You see, Tortuga, my dear mates, is the place of fortuitous circumstances for pirates such as myself." Jack said as he made his way to the stairs that led down to the second level of the ship. Elizabeth looked up at Will with a raised eyebrow, but the blacksmith wasn't paying attention to her. Instead, he was focused entirely on Jack's back.

"So… you mean to say that going to Tortuga will lead us to the island?" he asked. Jack paused and looked over his shoulder, rubbing two of his fingers together in front of him.

"You're a roundabout boy, aren't you?" Jack remarked before shrugging slightly and moving down the stairs and into the crew's sleeping quarters. Will frowned in confusion.

"Then what do you mean?" he asked. Jack shrugged.

"I mean, we're going to Tortuga, to find the reason we need to go to this place, before 'eading off in our right direction, savvy?" and Jack was moving down the steps out of the crew's quarters and into the storage level. Will looked around interestedly while Elizabeth winced in obvious disgust. This place was rancid, wet, muddy and disgusting. Animals milled about, and made their noises. Will stepped on a chicken and it clucked loudly and fluttered away. Jack barely glanced at anything around him as he moved towards a door at the far end.

"Where are we going?" Elizabeth asked finally, getting annoyed with animals trying to bite, headbutt or chew on her. As the goats tended to try and do. Jack turned around abruptly, a ring of keys held in his hand.

"I am going to the rum cellar, and I take it from your current positions, that you're followin' me." he replied. Will rolled his eyes.

"I'm going back to the map." he said and turned around and walked away.

"Guess that leaves me down ere alone with you, eh love?" Jack said, waggling his eyebrows suggestively at Elizabeth. She scoffed in a disgusted fashion and followed after Will. Jack's lips twisted before he shrugged and unlocked the door, disappearing into the cellar.

---

The captain didn't resurface for a long time, and during that time Will had studied the map thoroughly, at least twenty times over. Elizabeth was nodding off in her chair and Will glanced at her before sighing heavily and reading over the map again. Up in the corner, was inscribed something that was smudged beyond reading, and the map itself was inscribed in heavy, black ink. The Island Jack had been pointing at, was unnamed, but it had a large crossbones beside it so Will immediately knew that wasn't good. Jack seemed to have missed that fact though.

"…and really bad eggs… hey hey!" a voice began outside and Will sighed.

"The captain's drunk…again…" he muttered to himself before tracing his finger along the jagged line that cut the island in half. He blinked when something else suddenly appeared on the map… at the corner of his vision. It was shimmering gently, barely even there, much akin to as if it were floating on top of water and being slowly faded by the waves. He squinted at it and could barely make out a triangular shape, with a large island in the middle. Will made to lean closer, but the door burst open and it faded and was gone.

"Damn…" he cursed before looking up to see Jack swaying in the doorway.

"I love that song!" he cried.

"So we've heard." Elizabeth commented tiredly as she lifted her head and yawned. Jack blinked.

"Oi… what are you all doing in my cabin?" he asked, his voice not even slurred by the drink. Well, not any more slurred than what was usual. Will sighed as he stood.

"Come on Elizabeth." he said, not game to leave the woman alone with a drunken Sparrow. Jack grinned lopsidedly and then stumbled sideways as the ship rocked heavily.

"Great! A party!"

"Go to bed Jack." Will said as he walked past, Elizabeth on his other side. Jack frowned.

"O-oi! I'm the captain ere!" and he chuckled merrily, "Captain." and then slammed the door once Will and Elizabeth had gone. Yawning heavily, Jack stumbled towards the desk and then sat down heavily.

"Now… let's see if we can see that funny lookin' triangle again, eh?" and he stared at the map… which split into two, which split into two more… and then began to circle each other. Jack frowned and sat back with a hefty sigh.

"Well that didn't work!" and he tossed the empty rum bottle across the room. He scratched at his beard before he dropped forward onto the map… dead asleep. Who knew the captain of the Black Pearl, was such a watchful captain.

---

The next morning dawned with an early and salty smelling mist that floated across the Pearl. There were only three people awake at this hour of the morning, when the sun rose and the sea turned pink instead of blue. One was the lookout in the Crow's nest, his eyes drooping tiredly but never leaving the horizon while a telescope was lodged in his vest and a rum bottle was in his hand. Another was Mr Cotton, standing behind the helm and twiddling it every now and again as he saw fit.

Going to Tortuga was as natural as sailing through open water with no heading to the crew, so it was easy enough for them to fade into a sort of daze while steering. The third was Will Turner, staring out at the sea and contemplating that triangle that he had seen on the map last night. How strange that had been. And the way it had appeared was even stranger. Will crossed his legs and leaned against the railing, watching the depths directly beneath him.

He couldn't deny, that being on this ship and being back out at sea was something that he had wanted for a long time. It was beautiful… and pirate's blood ran through his veins. Despite his attempts at becoming a civilised man, at associating himself with others who were nothing like pirates, he had still become one. It disturbed him… but made him satisfied at the same time.

"Ah, there ye are dear William. What are ye doing up here so early?" Jack's voice floated out to him as the captain moved out of his quarters. He closed the door and swayed over to Will's spot, fastening his second belt as he did so and then twisting it so it fell into place neatly. Will glanced at him.

"Watching." Will replied, not wanting to break the sunrise with too much speaking. He was a little annoyed at Jack's interruption to tell the truth, and he would be a lot happier if the pirate would just go back into his cabin and live off of his drink again. Jack seemed to pick this up in Will's voice… but didn't pay it any heed. After all, Will was on his ship, and as captain, Jack was free to do whatever his heart desired.

"Well," Jack replied, not offended at all, but filtering an offended tone through his voice so he could mess around with Will's conscience. It was always fun to see other people squirm, "I could see that from yer stance, but, what are ye really doin?"

"I told you Jack, watching." Will replied, not caring that he had offended Jack in the slightest. In fact, he'd be a lot happier if Jack would get offended. Then maybe he could get some peace and quiet.

"Dear Will, anyone'd think yer tryin' to get rid o' me." and Jack leaned against the rail. Will grew more and more agitated by the second before finally he huffed a heavy sigh and walked away angrily. Jack smirked after him before following, swaying along the deck and only pausing to scratch at the mast. He'd been doing this every time he passed it for the last month or so, and the dirty patch hadn't gotten any cleaner, but Jack's nails had gotten all the dirtier for it. Will made his way up to the bow, moving to stand behind the railing there.

"Bloody pirate…" he muttered vehemently as he heard Jack's uneven footfalls coming up the stairs behind him.

"Now, maybe ye can give me the proper answer this time, otherwise we'll be runnin' in circles for the next half hour, round a subject that you wanna talk about, and I don't particularly wanna hear about, but as I have no choice, I guess I should listen and not pay attention…savvy?" and he grinned, faltered as he rethought what he had said and then grinned even harder as he realized it was exactly what he had meant to say. Will turned to him with narrowed eyes.

"…What?" he asked, not understanding anything of what Jack had just said. Jack blinked.

"Just tell me what's on ye mind, laddie." he replied and scoffed, muttering under his breath and leaning on the rail with crossed arms. Will frowned.

"I just wanted to watch the sunset." he muttered. Jack blinked at the sun and then turned back to Will with brows furrowed.

"That…" and he pointed a the horizon with ever twitching fingers, "would be a sunrise." and he raised an eyebrow. Will groaned and let his head drop forward. That whole plan had backfired. How had he managed to stuff that up? It was Jack's doubletalking, that's what it was. It was making his head swim. But then, it had never been any different. Jack looked mightily pleased with himself though.

"Was thinkin'." Will finally mumbled.

"Can't hear ye." Jack teased. Will glared at him. Jack was treating him like a little damn kid, and it was starting to grate on his last nerve. He hadn't even been on this ship for twenty-four hours, and already Jack was annoying the hell out of him. Still… It wouldn't hurt to talk to someone about his thoughts. And Jack was as trustworthy a person as they came, despite his pirate nature.

"Was thinking, maybe you shouldn't have let Elizabeth come." he said. Jack smiled and looked out to sea. He had had a feeling it was something like that. Wait… what the hell did he care!? Damned honest streak…

"Will… m'boy, do ye think I would've let her come if I knew she was going ta be in danger?"

"Yes." Will answered immediately. Jack smiled and raised a hand, seeming to congratulate Will.

"No. Of course not." and he grinned at Will, "Think about it William, if I hadn't of let her come…" Will sighed and rolled his eyes and faced the sea. He came another speech that he wouldn't even have understood if he had of tried, "Then she would have been dragged into it at some stage. Or, she would've come looking for ye, or something." and he shrugged. Will blinked. Had Jack just… made sense? Jack seemed to be thinking along those lines as well, as he turned on his heel and made for the stairs again.

"I need me rum." and he moved towards the captain's cabin. Will took one last look at the orange and pink sea before trotting after the captain. He caught up just as Jack was making his way through the door, and Will followed.

"Oi! No entrance unless you 'ave captain's permission." Jack barked, turning around. Will paused and frowned.

"Permission to enter, captain?" he asked. Should have remembered that from last time. Jack looked him up and down and then shrugged and walked over to his desk again. Will followed him in and closed the door.

"Jack, last night, I saw something strange on that map." Will said, hurrying over to the desk to look back down at the bit of hide lying on Jack's desk. Actually, last night Will hadn't noticed how strange Jack's desk truly was. Bits of paper littered the sides, but were almost placed strategically in different positions to make a sort of pattern. Broken quills lay over the top of the paper and Will found himself almost surprised that Jack could write, but then of course, to be a pirate and charlatan such as he was, he needed the necessary skills of reading and writing to get by while pulling a heist.

Still… it was still strange. Jack's compass was placed near to the map, and was spinning crazily as was normal. Will had long since figured it was either broken, or magical in some way. Some sort of magic, or witchery had been placed upon it. Or… it was just broken, and Will figured it was more than likely that. On the front of the desk, were small trinkets and little statues of things that Will found very strange indeed. But Will had to look up, as Jack had paused and was now looking at him.

"Ye saw it too?" he asked. Will blinked and then nodded slowly. Good, it wasn't just him then. Jack looked down at the map, "Where?" and Will pointed to the side of the map that he had seen the triangle appear on. Jack nodded.

"What did it look like?" Will asked. Jack slowly sat down.

"A triangle."

"Yes. But, it faded before I could get a good look." Will said, restraining himself from sending an accusing glare at the captain sitting before him. Jack nodded.

"Yes." the room was silent, and Jack fidgeted before getting up and grabbing a bottle of rum from beside his bed and taking a heavy swig. Will was staring at the map, trying to invoke the image of the triangle, but he just couldn't seem to get it to come up. After five minutes of good, hard staring, Will looked up to see Jack was now sitting on his bed and seemed to be in deep thought.

"I had heard of a place… but that couldn't be it. Surely." he muttered to himself. Will narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Jack shook his head and then looked up at Will.

"I think…" he said, in a tone that Will had rarely heard Jack use other than when he was talking in complete seriousness, "Will, me boy, I think we've found a map to the Bermuda Triangle." Silence reigned in the room after this statement until Will, after searching his mind for some reference to what Jack had said, spoke up.

"Bermuda Triangle?"

"Yeah… it's a place that no one can find, but when they do… they don't return. That's all rumour though, cos, ya know, someone goes to a place, and doesn't come back, then, you don't know if they did actually come back or not."

"What?"

"Well, they coulda gone somewhere completely different, couldn' they?"

"I guess." Will muttered, trying to think that over in his head but upon deciding that it was just too much to even try to register in his tired mind, gave it up. Silence once again descended upon the room, both men caught up in their own thoughts.

"Port Tortuga!" the lookout shouted. Now they knew where they were going… they had to find out how to get there.

---

If this was as easy as it was going to get, then Commodore James Norrington of Port Royal, was going to have no trouble in getting to that island. He had been hoping that someone would come along, and fortune had been good when it had given him the worst, and best pirate in all of the Caribbean. Now he would be able to kill three birds with a single stone. After all, for all his accomplishments and commendations, Will Turner had joined company with a known Pirate. And that led in turn to an instant hanging. Norrington unsheathed his sword the slightest bit and inspected the handle before letting it slide back into the sheath again.

"Sir, do you want us to attack? They're in easy range." a young man said, running up to him and saluting. Norrington frowned but then waved a hand at him.

"No. Leave them. They're going to lead us to something I've wanted to find for a long time." and he watched as the black ship hovered on the horizon, "A very long time.

"Sir!" and the boy saluted, clicked his heels and then scurried away. Norrinton watched him go and then looked out at the Pearl again. Oh yes, he was going to get it this time, and then to boost his confidence, he was going to arrest Captain Jack Sparrow, and William Turner and then, Elizabeth would have no choice but to marry him. He wasn't a very forceful man, especially when it came to touchy subjects like that, but, Elizabeth really wouldn't have any other choice.

Her father would push her in the right direction, and then it would be done. Norrington frowned at the thought of William Turner and the Sparrow, before marching stiffly up to the helm and standing beside the steerer. Unfortunately, he would have to go through Tortuga to do it, but Captain/Commodore James Norrington didn't know that… yet.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------