Chapter 14: Seperated By Bars

Hoots and hollers sounded across the cavern as Samantha and Jack entered. Samantha started immediately looking about and taking in the cavern. Slowly she noticed the hollers becoming less numerous in quantities. Rushing forward, Samantha quickly caught up to Jack, sticking to his side as they shoved through the crowd.

Will looked out at the crowd for what he thought was to be the last time. He felt a rush of unexpected joy when his eyes fell on Jack and Samantha as they made their way tiward him. "Jack! Samantha!" He shouted over Barbossa.

Hearing the pair's names, Barbossa looked up in shock. "S’not possible." "Not probable." Corrected Jack as he moved past more confused pirates."Where's Elizabeth?" Will asked curiously.

"She’s safe, just like I promised. She's all set to marry Norrington, just like she promised. You get to die for her just like you promised, and Samantha is here to keep me in line to the best of her abilities, just like she promised. So we're all men of our word really except for Elizabeth and Samantha, who are infact women." Jack explained, pissing Will off slightly as suspicion planted it's seed in his head.

"Shut up! You're next." Barbossa growled, cutting off the infernal conversation. "You don’t want to be doing that, mate." Jack spoke up as Barbossa moved to slit Will's throat. "No, I really think I do." Barbossa hissed before turning bacm to Will. "Your funeral." Samantha muttered as she crossed her arms over her chest.

Barbossa paused, curiosity getting the better of him. "Why don’t I want to be doing it?"

Jack grinned as Barbossa took the bait. "Well because," he started, brushing off a pirate as he went, "because the HMS Dauntless, pride of the Royal Navy, is floating just offshore. Waiting for you." Jack explained, causing murmurs of discomfort shuffle throughout the crowd.

Samantha moved to stand next to Jack with a lazy grin. "Just hear me out, mate." Jack continued. " You order your men to row out to the Dauntless. They do what they do best. Robert ’s your Uncle, Fannie ’s your Aunt, there you are with two ships." Jack lured.

Samantha sultry smiled and moved up the pile of gold along with Jack. "‘Course you’ll take the grandest as your flagship, and who’s to argue?" She continued.

"But what of the Pearl ? Name me Captain, I’ll sail under your colors, I’ll give you ten percent of me plunder and you get to introduce yourself as Commodore Barbossa. Savvy?" Jack finished with a sly smile. He knew he had Barbossa in his hand.

"I s’pose in exchange, you want me not to kill the whelp." Barbossa growled slowly. "No, no, not at all by all means, kill the whelp." Jack told Barbossa. Samantha turned her head towards sparrow so fast that she almost got dizzy. "What?"

"Just not yet. Wait to lift the curse until the opportune moment. For instance," Jack continued as though she hadn't spoken, "after you’ve killed Norrington’s men." He continued, snatching up a handful of the golden coins. "Every." One coin reentered the chest. "Last." Another on fell with a tink. "One." A third joined the other coins, the fourth disappearing into Jack's sleeve.

Samantha glared at Jack angrily, moving forward with intentions to slap him when Bo'sun caught her and roughly pulled her against his back.

Will was just as angry with Jack, his gaze accusing as he spoke up. "You’ve been planning this from the beginning. Ever since you learned my name."

Jack nodded as though it were obvious. "Yeah."

"I want fifty percent of your plunder." Barbossa stated after a moment. "Fifteen." Jack disagreed. "Fourty." Barbossa countered. "Twenty-five. And I’ll buy you the hat. A really big one, Commodore." Jack offered. Barbossa glanced up at his own hat before grinning. "We have an accord."

Jack smiled before turning to the crew as Barbossa did. "All hand’s to the boats!" Jack ordered loudly before realizing he was recieving funny looks from Barbossa. "Apologies, you give the orders."

"Gents," Barbossa addressed with a grin, "take a walk." He ordered.

The crew chuckled in dark humor, Bo'sun shoving Samantha into Jack's arms as he turned and left with the rest of the crew.

"Not to the boats?" Jack asked slowly, confused when Barbossa shook his head.

Samantha was grabbed by a pirate and shoved down next to Barbossa as Jack began picking through the treasure.

"Now, what's vexing me missy, is why you would choose to be left on a deserted island with Jack and Miss Swann." Barbossa stated, turning to Samantha with raised eyebrows.

Everyone stopped and looked at the woman, who seemed even colder and unyielding than a hurricane.

Jack winced as he realized that the anger was directed towards him.

"You know why." Samantha hissed angrily. "Ah, trying to stay in the Governor's Daughter's good graces are we." Barbossa asked with his eyes alight with knowledge.

He leaned forward slightly. "Miss Jones." He whispered in her ear, causing her to stiffen.

"It would do you well to hold your tongue Barbossa." Samantha growled as her eyes bore into his own. "Who is in power here Missy." Barbossa hissed softly. "I am." Her powerful and demanding voice coming out proudly, ringing off the cave walls. "And don't forget it." She added, glaring at Jack.

Barbossa felt his eyes widen as she glared angrily at everyone in the cave. The water reacted slightly, rising as her anger did. "My apologies miss. You are, of course, right Majesty."

"Of course I am." Samantha growled, looking out at the treasure as she felt a rise in her. She wanted to run her fingers through the tantalizing piles of gold, trade some for rum or maybe buy a ship of her own.

Barbossa looked at Jack, watching as he picked through the treasure. "I must admit, Jack , I thought I had ye figured. But it turns out that you’re a hard man to predict."

Samantha shifted slightly.

"Me? I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly. It's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly," Jack moved to stand behind a pirate. Barbossa was left with no time to do anything but narrow his eyes at Jack before the strange Pirate finished talking. "stupid." With a quick move, he tossed Will one sword and grabbed a second that soared to Samantha.

Gracefully she caught the sword and arched her blade, swinging it down on a pirate nearby before spinning and shoving it into a second pirate.

A third pirate took his own sword, swinging it down only to have the metal on metal contact ring out as Samantha paired the blow. With a circling motion, the Pirate helplessly watched his sword fly into the water before a lethal blow hit him. Samantha moved to the next Pirate, easily fighting off her opponents as she moved closer to where Jack and Barbossa fought.

She was finally open when she got to the bootom of the hill, racing up just in time to see Jack get impaled by Barbossa himself. "No!" Samantha screamed in shock, running forward only to be caught by Barbossa.

Jack stumbled backwards, his eyes wide with shock.

As his body hit the moonlight, his skin faded away to reveal a rotting corpse. Shocking everyone in the cave. "That’s interesting." He stated with a permanent grin plaster on his face as he twirled a medallion in his hand. "I couldn't resist mate."

Barbossa growled, shoving Samantha down the hill as he moved to battle Jack again.

Samantha felt her head hit against a hard piece of metal, causing her to lay down as she attempted to fight off nausea. "Ugh." She groaned slightly. The noise of the room faded slightly before it came back full blast. Samantha shot up, now soaked though she was no where near water and continued to fight.

She mindlessly took on pirate after pirate, only stopping as she spun to come face to face with Barbossa, who had a slight grin on his face. "End of the line lassie." He told her, his finger moving to squeeze the trigger when the shot rang out.

Samantha gasped and looked down, waiting for the blood and the pain to show up. When nothing came, she glanced up to see Jack holding a smoking pistol and Barbossa looking down at his chest.

"Ten years you carry that pistol, and now you waste your shot." Barbossa taunts. Jack said nothing, just blankly stared at the man.

"He didn't waste it!" Will shouted, blood dripping from his hand.

Then, he dropped two medallions, everyone watching as they landed in the chest with a clang.

Samantha looked back at Barbossa, who went pale. She moved forward with kind eyes, his own staring at her in shock. "I feel, cold." He whispered.

"It's okay, sleep now." Samantha murmured softly, helping the man down as the life drained from him. "Some have died, and some are alive." Samantha started to sing softly. "Others sail on the sea." Barbossa tightened his grip on the girls hand as he sucked in air desperately. "With the keys to the cage, and the devil to pay." Samantha continued kindly as Barbossa let out his last breath, the apple he had gripped in his hand throughout the battle, in hopes that it would be the first thing to past his lips as her returned to join the race of the living fell with a clang from his hand. "We sail for fiddlers green." She finished the verse before standing up and going over to check on Will, Elizabeth, before finally making it to Jack.

Jack observed as Samantha bandaged his hand, pouring some of the rum from her flask that she had refilled on the Dauntless onto his hand. "You always shock me." He murmured to her softly.

"The sea is constantly changing Jack, it can be harsh and unrelenting one day, the next it can be calm and serene." Samantha murmured before kissing his lips and making her way toward where William stood in soliloquy.

She patted his shoulder as she past him to go catch up with Elizabeth. "Sorry mate."

Soon enough, the group of four piled in a lifeboat and started towards where the Black Pearl should have sat only to find nothing.

"I’m sorry, Jack." Elizabeth soothed as they were met with nothing but the sea, no Black Pearl in sight. "They done what’s right by them. Can’t expect more than that." Jack muttered, trying desperately to be understanding as they rowed closer and closer to the Dauntless, and his death.

Will, Elizabeth, Jack, and Samantha were quickly pulled on board. Samantha helped Elizabeth to her room while Will spoke to the Governor and Norrington, explaining what had happened. Jack sat in the brig, the same cell that they had kept Samantha in earlier. He just sat there, he never spoke, didn't try to escape, and he didn't move.

Samantha was barred from seeing Jack, as part of the requirements to keep her from swinging as well. So, the Governor and Elizabeth kept her busy, orderung her ti do this and that, sending her everywhere except where she wanted to be most.

Jack felt wounded that Samantha didn't srop by for a goodbye, he wondered if he really meant so little to the gypsy-spirited woman.

"Did you hear her last night though?" One of the soldiers gossiped as he and his partner moved to relieve Jacks earlier gaurds of duty. "No, hear who?" The second gaurd asked. "The The Commodore's Fiance's handmaiden. Last night she was on deck, crying." The first gaurd whispered, the mention of Samantha making Jack's gead snap up. "Aye, poor lass. Did you see how busy the girl's been, rushing about doing this and that for the Commodore, his Fiance, and her Father?" The second gaurd reminded. "It's to keep her from wanderin. Specifically from wanderin down here." The first gaurd stated, sparing a look at Jack only to be shocked to see the Pirate's head thrown back, a smile on his face.

"Yo ho, haul together, hoist the colors high." Jack sang softly.

"Heave ho, thieves and beggars, never shall we die." Samantha hummed as she moved forward to pass a message onto Norrington from the Governor.