Barbossa's Daughter

Chapter 11

(A/N: Welcome to the first chapter of the Dead Man's Chest. Hope you enjoy. XxD)

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"Elizabeth!" Will called worriedly as he closed the distance between the entrance of where he stood and the cage from which his closest friend sat inside.

"Here, now, you can't be here!" said the marine guard.

"I think you'll find he can," Governor Swann declared.

"Mr Swann!"

"Governor Swann, still," he corrected. "Do you think I wear this wig to keep my head warm?"

"Will," Elizabeth called in relief.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he covered his fingers with hers. And still, after all this time after the events at the Isla de Muerta, Cora's words had effectively snuffed out whatever spark once flickered between them; extinguished whatever torch he once carried for her as their skin touched cold.

Moreover, since those events, Will had been rising up in the ranks of the Royal Navy whilst Elizabeth was still unmarried after she broke off her engagement with the Commodore the day Jack and Cora escaped. They had been living rather peaceful lives ashore in Port Royal as friends until the day Cutler Beckett came.

Sorry, Lord Cutler Beckett.

A lord who had imprisoned both Will and Elizabeth for their crimes of conspiring to aid two known pirates in escaping the justice of the Crown. He was also after Norrington, but he'd resigned his commission and disappeared months ago which was another story.

Beckett had then pulled Will aside and offered him and Elizabeth a full pardon in exchange for one thing. For an item that a certain person kept on them at all times. A person that Will had more good standing with than Beckett did - then again, they supposed he didn't have a good standing with many people, even those at his command. He seemed a rather unlikeable person. He was sending them to the gallows if Will didn't come through, so they also supposed that calling him an unlikeable person was a compliment and more of one than he deserved.

"Jack's compass?" Elizabeth questioned after Will finished his tale. "What does Beckett want with that?"

"Does it matter? I'm to find Jack and convince him to return to Port Royal. In exchange, the charges against us will be dropped," Will continued.

"No! We must find our own avenue to secure your freedom," the Governor insisted.

Will stood to face the Governor as he asked with a blank face, "Is that a lack of faith in Jack or in me?"

"That you would risk your life to save Sparrow's, does not mean he would do the same for anyone else," the Governor retorted, and Will couldn't help but smirk.

"That is where you would be wrong. There is one person. One person who might be able to help me," he revealed and both the Swann's were confused.

"Who?" the Governor wondered and then it clicked.

"Cora?!" Elizabeth asked in outrage. "You think Cora Barbossa is going to help you betray the only semblance of family that she has left after we helped kill her father?!"

Will bit his lips. "No. I do not think she will betray him, but I still believe she can be of some help to me. Our times aboard the Pearl as her prisoner were vastly different from what you have told me of your experience."

"You never did tell me of yours, of what happened after I walked the plank. And that is a rather concerning amount of faith you are placing in a pirate that tried to kill us," Elizabeth said.

"Forget Cora," Will said as he stared down at Elizabeth who still sat on the floor of her cell in the ornate gown she was arrested in. "You have faith in me, do you not?"

"I do. And in Jack."

"Good. Trust in that. And I will have you out of this cell as soon as I can. And then it will have been the second time that I have saved you," Will said and Elizabeth gave him a small smile at their running competition of saving each other.

"Where do you hope to find them?"

"Tortuga. Cora hates being on land but if Jack is captain of the Pearl, that is the best place to start my search. And rest assured that I will not leave you to weather away in this cage."

Her smile was bigger this time. "I know you won't."

Will returned her smile. "Keep a weather eye on the horizon." 

And Will left to start on his journey.