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A/N: This would be my first attempt at a Barbossabeth fic. It is rather mild compared to most Barbossabeth fics and ends with Willabeth, unfortunately. This was in response to the "The key to..." prompt on the LJ barbossabeth community.

Never Give Up

"Yaarrrggahahahahaaahhaa!" his crazed cackle echoed across the dark deck of the Black Pearl as he spun the wheel around, driving the massive galleon into the spinning maelstrom much to the dismay of the entire crew, all but one; the same crewman... nay woman who had asked him to take the helm and send them all against the enemy and into the spinning mass of ocean. He had no qualms about sending his ship deep into the heart of danger; he had done it many times before when he had been under the curse. But of course back then he had been immortal, unable to die and therefore unable to worry about whether he was going to survive the battle or not. Now he had every reason to be concerned for his life, especially now that he had recently be given it back by the voodoo witch goddess. He had every reason to disincline to acquiesce to her request one more time, but he had found himself taking the helm and sending them to what the crew no doubt believed to be their deaths.

Was he insane to take the battle into the maelstrom for a King who was barely an infant into piracy and a woman to boot? Did he have a death wish, a willingness to die for this siren who has vexed every man she's set eyes upon, or was this all part of an elaborate plan of the likes that which Jack Sparrow would have come up with, a plan that depended entirely on luck and opportune moments that may or may not come to pass? But no, what may be seen as insanity or a fixation on his part was a means of surviving a battle he knew they could not win through conventional means. He had to take them into the maelstrom, he had to throw in that random die and make sure the number he wanted turned face up else wise Davy Jones would be fishing them all out of the water and offering them a lifetime of service aboard his ghostly ship. A fate he desperately wanted to avoid for himself.

He cackled madly as the ship lurched beneath his feet as they made the first dip into the spinning maelstrom, sinking to its lower depths with each passing revolution, and he saw out of the corner of his eyeThe Flying Dutchman's captain mirror his action with as much gusto and craziness as his own. Barbossa spun the wheel one more time, bringing them closer to the center of danger, trying to outrun the ghostly ship and out of sight of it's forward cannons, flinching only once when a cannonball smashed through the stern behind him, sending a shower of wood and metal splinters over him all the while the rain pelted hard against his face.

"Take us out or they'll overbear us!" the whelp Turner had shouted into his ear.

"Nay! Further in! We'll cut across on faster waters!" he shouted over the noise of the hurricane above them and the maelstrom beneath them. The woman that sent them all to war against a superior foe and standing in front of him, looking back at him with a grin before adding her own command.

"Ready for a broadside!" he heard her shout and he smiled gleefully as he turned the wheel once more that finally brought them out of The Dutchman's line of sight but knew perfectly well that it exposed them to all of the ghost ship's side cannons once they had cut across the watery beast, but at least it gave them the chance to fire back now.

"Fire!" he shouted once he was certain they had her in their sights.

"Fire!" he heard her echo and the cannons responded to their commands with exploding reports. Men cried out in pain or in death, splinters flew everywhere and water washed across the deck as The Dutchman's return fire pelted his ship like Calypso pelted her with the heavy rain and wind and for a fleeting moment he wondered if the Goddess sided with Davy Jones after all, knowing full well he can't drown and his ship can't be sunk by the maelstrom she created.

His doubting thoughts were jarred from his mind as he saw cursed pirates and marines crossing the watery abyss below to take the battle to his ship's deck. Barbossa left the helm as he unsheathed his rapier and cut down a spiked pirate that had swung over in the hopes of catching him off guard while he manned the wheel. He pushed the creature's head between the spokes and spun the wheel until he heard a satisfying crunch before spearing it on his sword. As he pulled the crimson painted blade from the thing's back, he glanced over his shoulder to look at the main deck and see how many borders he had and his blue eyes were drawn to Elizabeth on the lower stern castle's deck as she screamed out a battle cry and skewered another marine through the gut before parrying a blow from a pirate who had an manta ray for a head.

His attention was drawn away from her fight, his concern for his own wellbeing overriding whatever he was about to feel watching her fight the cursed pirates as the very same spiked pirate came back at him for more. He parried the blows thrown at him with easy before punching the creature across his spiked face and grimaced as a spike of pain raced up his hand. That hurts, he silently thought and made a mental note not to get too physical with this particular pirate again.

"I've made my choice, what's yours?" Turner's voice echoed from below and Barbossa felt his chest tighten at the question as he took a second's glance and saw Elizabeth and the boy together. The spiked pirate returned for a third round of swordplay with him, his thoughts spinning wildly like the whirlpool all around them. He had always fancied the idea of making the young lass his pirate bride ever since he had first set eyes on her and learned what a fiery sprite she could be and this last several months sailing to Singapore and to World's End had definitely allowed them to get to know each other better. He had seen the hurt in her eyes when Turner did not return her affections, he even went as far to ask her if she was troubled but he had masked it behind a captain's concern for two crewmen at odds with each other.

She had been open with him much to his surprise and had revealed what really had happened aboard the Pearl that fateful day that sent Jack to Davy Jones' Locker. So when Jack revealed her betrayal to the rest, he had not been surprised but instead had worn a proud smirk across his face, taking pride in the fact that the woman he had taken under his wing to turn into a proper pirate had already taken the first step without him. She reminded him of himself; cunning and ruthless when need be and merciful when the occasion warranted for mercy. Under Turner's tutelage she welded a sword expertly, but under his own tutelage she learned to weld it masterfully using all the dirty tricks and tactics he knew of so that when she was faced alone he knew she could handle herself without having either him or Turner watching her back.

"Barbossa!" he heard her shout his name and for a fleeting moment he thought she had chosen him and when she finished her thought his heart sank deep into the pit of his stomach once he understood she had chosen the whelp over him. "Marry us!" If he had been in the mood, he would have taken her poor choice of words and married her to him and not to the whelp. After all, he could marry himself to his own pirate bride if he wanted.

But instead, he snarled his frustration of being rejected and sent the spiked pirate sprawling across the decking and spun around to face the young couple; "I'm a little busy at the moment!" He saw her scowl just as he turned back to face a different cursed pirate, this one made of jelly fish and looked out right disgusting and made his stomach want to empty it's contents just at the sight of it. He sliced at its arm and hissed when several of its tentacles slapped at his exposed wrist. He could feel his hand going numb but forced his fingers to hold onto the grip of his sword as he plunged it into the creature's chest.

Spiky returned again and Barbossa was growing tired of having to fight this monster for a fourth time. Just die ye bleedin' cockroach!

"Barbossa! Now!" Turner shouted up at him just as Jelly returned again. Barbossa found himself suddenly pinned between the two like a sandwich, his blade skewering Jelly and Jelly's own skewering Spiky as he gave his reply.

"Fine then!" he sent the two pirates sprawling again before he climbed onto the navigator's table, kicking the face in of a marine that tried to attack him before standing up and placing his free hand over his racing heart, a heart he knew was not racing because of the battle. "Dearly beloved we be gathered here today tae nail yer gizzard tae de mast ye poxy cur!" The insult was not directed at Spiky as he sent the monster for the fifth time sprawling onto the decking with a kick in the face and knew he was going to be facing that pirate for a sixth time if he didn't do something about him soon.

As he bent over to stab a marine in the chest from between his legs, he could see Elizabeth and Turner fight hand in hand as they tried to give their wedding vows to each other, ignoring every interruption the borders were giving. A wicked thought crossed his mind, hoping that the whelp would be skewered by a marine's rapier or cleaved in half by a cursed pirate's cutlass. But he quickly shoved that thought aside knowing that Elizabeth would stop fighting and run to the boy's aide and risk her own life to desperately hold onto his life and he would only end up losing her to his selfish want.

Barbossa growled out his anger at the return of Spiky trying to slice off his leg but before he could try and cleave the monster's head off, a marine stabbed at him from his other side and he was forced to parry the blow. Quickly he found himself swinging his sword back and forth between the two, somehow successfully parrying each attack as he continued the marriage; "As Captain I know pronounce ye..." he was interrupted by the familiar sting of pain across his right leg and turned to deal with the marine that succeeded in getting a glancing blow. He bent down and roughly shoved the man into Jelly that came running up to join the fight against the Captain of theBlack Pearl.

Straightening and drawing his pistol; "Ye may kiss..." he trailed off to shoot Spiky in the face with a snarl and laughter of triumph as the creature finally fell and did not get back up. He was glad for the distraction, he did not want to see the woman he wanted to make as his bride kiss the man who denied being a pirate and a pirate's son. Barbossa jumped down from the table and into the path of an attacking marine, but he easily shoved the man aside and tried to finish his sentence.

"Ye may kiss..." but again he was interrupted by Jelly coming at him from his right. He sliced across the creature's face and moved around the table to get some more room only to confront the same marine he had shoved. He stabbed him and decided not to bother in trying to finish the sentence. He had too many combatants up here for him to even try to get a whole sentence out. "Just kiss!" he shouted to them and turned away to face a third cursed pirate with a moray eel for a head, briefly witnessing the young couple attacking each other and finding himself wishing once more that Turner had missed and was killed.

But he was distracted from them by Moray as the creature proved to be a more formidable foe to face. Barbossa quickly found himself on the retreat, unawares of the two kissing passionately on the main deck in the midst of a melee battle. He was far too concerned for his safety to even notice if one of the borders took that brief moment to kill Elizabeth or the whelp but swore he would see to it that that particular border hung from the yardarm if he did take advantage of Elizabeth's marriage to Turner.

Barbossa felt his body be pinned against the table and his sword crossed and locked with the eel's own. For a second he grinned but it quickly turned to a frown of surprise and quickly to panic as the eel's head extended from its body, it's maw widening as he realized the creature's intent. Ye ain't going tae be makin' a meal out of me head! He snarled and grabbed the eel's sword hand and slid the two blades across each other, decapitating the eel in the process. He pushed the thing off him and sidestepped around to stab it in the back and kicking it off and over the side of his ship.

Barbossa almost ended up joining the monster from a sudden lurch of the ship and a sickening groan that also sank his heart to his guts once more as he realized the two ship's had collided and were now locked together by the masts. He glanced over to the deck to see Elizabeth was still with them, fighting alongside her newly wedded husband. He wondered what it would have been like to be that man at her back, covering her as she covered him, killing and maiming every opponent that found the courage to challenge them without having to worry about trusting her to be there, knowing that the bond between them would be enough to insure that she would not leave his side.

But that was a path that was now closed to them both unless something happened to the boy she had him marry her to. And although a part of him wished that something would happen to the whelp, he could not bare to witness Elizabeth in a wretched state of a broken heart from such a loss. So he kept his wishes to himself and turned away once more to deal with his ship that was now trapped in the maelstrom and slowly being taken down. He spun around and sliced across the throat of a marine that came up from behind before he moved over to grabbed the wheel from Cotton.

"Master Pintel! Master Regetti!" he shouted over the noise of the battle and saw that he had their attention. "Load the chain shot and cut us loose!" As the two shipmates disappeared below deck to carry out his orders, Barbossa took another glance around to look for Elizabeth and found her nowhere within sight and for a second he assumed the worse had happened. But he did not even see the whelp anywhere either and wondered where they had gotten too. A glance over to The Dutchman revealed the two had swung over and were fighting Davy Jones' himself.

Have they gone mad? He thought and then suddenly froze as Elizabeth was knocked out. He almost forced himself to forget his ship and swing over to aide her but the whelp had seen and prevented Jones from finishing her off. Barbossa's attention was drawn away by a marine that had yet to be dispatched by one of his crew and within a few thrusts and parries, added the man to the increasing body count all around him. He turned his gaze back over to The Dutchman just in time to see its captain stab the whelp in the heart.

It was as if time had come to a standstill with that single action. He had wished several times something would happen to the boy and had wished again that nothing would so that Elizabeth would neither be in danger or with a broken heart. But it seemed the Fates, and perhaps Aphrodite herself, found more entertainment in granting him his first wish by eliminating the single object that was in his way of having Elizabeth as his own pirate bride. But seeing how Elizabeth was desperately trying to keep Turner from leaving this world had stabbed him in the heart with regret. He regretted for wishing ill will on the boy and wondered how he could even try courting her with the memory of her husband's death so fresh on her mind and heart.

And if she learned that he had wished for his death, how would she react to that? Like the pirate I taught her to be, he cringed at the thought of her cutting out his black heart and pulled his gaze away from the terrible scene. His grip on the wheel tightened as he felt it try to tear free from him. Barbossa glanced up at the tangled masts and yardarms and scowled at the sight.

"She's taking us down! Move quicker or it's the Locker for us all!" he shouted to the two cannoneers as they loaded the chain shot. A split second later the cannon belched the double balled-chain upward and through the yardarms that held the two great ships together. With a pang of regret at what almost could have been, Barbossa quickly pulled the wheel to port and the ship broke free to starboard, riding up the sides of the maelstrom and leaving The Dutchman and Elizabeth to her watery fate. Almost as soon as the ghost ship sank, the maelstrom caved in on it self leaving the sea's as calm as they had once been before Calypso had been released from her human prison. And riding the air currents overhead, Barbossa spotted three figures slowly sinking back toward the ocean and somehow knowing that one of them was Elizabeth, he turned the Pearl in their direction.

He was there at the railing with Gibbs, waiting to see with his own eyes, as the man helped the Pirate King on board and then the damnable Jack Sparrow. He frowned at the sight of the formerly dead pirate setting foot on his ship again. Jack the Monkey climbed up his side to perch at his shoulder again, chattering a simian question at him as Barbossa scowled at the man, despising Sparrow for saving Elizabeth's life when it should have been him. But he said nothing as Gibbs started to explain the situation to Sparrow. Instead he cast a glance towards Elizabeth and took the few steps to stand at her side, wondering if he really had a chance now to win her heart. He looked down at her and saw that her eyes had met his, searching his gaze and he searching hers for that spark of hope even if that hope each searched for was for different reasons.

And even when Will Turner had returned from his watery demise, Barbossa realized then and there as he meet her gaze that he now knew the key to winning Elizabeth's hand was not to wish for the demise of her husband or whisk her away on his ship as if she were still that innocent governor's daughter, but to never give up in trying to win her heart even if it belonged to another for now.