Fate Intervenes

Fate Intervenes 14/16
by GylzGirl
Rating: PG-13
Thanks again to Karen, my beta.
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CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Slain


Jack smiled as the bell of Port Royal came into view. The smile quickly waned as he saw that it was adorned with bright flowers and ribbons. He scowled and sucked air through his teeth. "Least he's predictable. I suppose that's something."

"Jack?" Gibbs said as he steered the Talon into the harbor.

"Just a good thing the bastard doesn't know how to coax me Pearl like I do. They couldn't have beat us here by much." Jack turned with mischief in his eyes. "Feel like crashing a wedding, mate?"


******

Elizabeth had been kept aboard the Pearl most of the morning. When she'd looked out the port window and seen the bell of the fort decorated, she'd known what Chase had gone ahead to prepare. He'd returned for her soon after that and now she was being thrust inside her old room at the mansion. Chase followed her inside. She turned to face him, arms crossed over her chest.

"Now, you will stay here and you will be a good girl. I'm locking that door behind me. Food will be brought to you, as will your wedding dress. You will be changed and ready at sunset. The ceremony will be held at the fort and someone will be sent to fetch you when it is time."

Elizabeth smiled incredulously. "And when I am asked if I take this man or not, I will answer, no thank you, I am already married."

Chase approached with a charming smile and eyes like flint. "And I will, with all due concern, inform those present that to cope with the repeated violations you endured at the hands of your pirate captors, you convinced yourself that you were in a sanctioned union with the cruel Captain. And as he passed you around to his villainous crew, you imagined each of them were him. My only hope for your tenuous sanity is to give you a legal marriage so that you may regain the respectability you had stripped from you." Chase sniffed haughtily. "It's what half the town believes to have happened to you anyway. The other half believes you to have been the pirate's willing whore, servicing his crew with a smile on your face. They think me a saint for trying to salvage your ruined honor."

Elizabeth's mouth opened to speak then snapped shut again. She turned her back to him. "Just leave me alone," she said in a quiet voice. If it were possible, she could have sworn she heard him smirking as he left, locking the door behind him.

Elizabeth turned to check that he was really gone, then sighed in relief. If believing he'd shattered her with tales of town gossip was what it took to alleviate her of his company, she had no issues with playing the part. She had no doubt that what he'd said had been true. While it saddened Elizabeth to think that the people in town, mainly the friends she'd grown up with, would think ill of her, it made small difference to her life. Jack was nearly stretched out of existence on the gallows of this quaint Navy town. It wasn't as if they were going to be settling down here. If the citizens of Port Royal thought Jack Sparrow was a raping, murdering monster worthy of being executed, and yet believed Gabriel Chase a good man, their judgment was non-existent anyway.

Elizabeth sat on the edge of the bed and exhaled deeply. She just needed a quiet moment to herself to formulate what to do next. Almost unconsciously, her hand slipped up the front of her dress and tugged at the leather string which disappeared down her cleavage. She pulled until she had Jack's ring in her hand. Her finger rubbed at the emerald.

Elizabeth was torn. She felt she had to escape. The problem was that Jack would know that Chase had taken her to Port Royal. She didn't need to ask if he'd be foolhardy enough to risk setting foot there, even knowing that he was instantly recognizable from his aborted hanging a few years back. He would come anyway because she was here. "What if I leave and he comes for me and is captured?" She whispered into the empty room. "What if I go and he can't find me?"

"Go," she heard Jack's voice say. She knew it was only in her head, but in the stillness of the room, it seemed like it, like he, was all around her. "Go, Love. I'll find ye, don't you fret. Get safe. Get out. Count on Ol' Jack for the rest."

Elizabeth took a deep breath and hoped she was doing the right thing. She tucked Jack's ring safely down the front of her dress once more, stood, and crossed over to her wardrobe. She parted the gowns that hung on the rail and began removing shoes from the bottom. Elizabeth slid her hand to the very back and felt for the indentation she knew to be there. Locating it, she curled her fingers into it and lifted. The bottom surface lifted with her efforts and she pulled it out of the wardrobe. Peering inside, Elizabeth smiled with relief. There was her knapsack full of boy-clothes and a satchel of coins. She had hoarded them in preparation to escape before it became impossible for her to return to the mansion and Will had to simply dress her in his own clothes and send her away.

Elizabeth pulled open the bag and reached inside, then stopped and retracted her hand. If someone came into the room and caught her dressed that way, they'd know. She closed the bag, resolving to stay in what she was wearing until she was outside. Elizabeth replaced the wardrobe base and shoes, spread out the clothes and closed the doors. She walked to the window and opened the drapes. Looking around quickly, she concealed the knapsack behind the heavy curtains.

Elizabeth opened the window and looked down. Her bedroom window was positioned at the side of the house. It gave her almost the same view of the harbor as the front of the house thanks to the way the building was situated on the hill, but it made it harder for those approaching on the path through the gates to see up into the window of the Governor's only daughter. It was a precaution for her privacy and safety that Weatherby Swann had undertaken to protect his child, and it seemed to be doing just that one last time. With the wedding ceremony being held at the fort, all the preparation activity was away from the mansion save for some minor traffic at the front door. All she had to do was find a way to the ground and slipping away unnoticed shouldn't be that hard.

Elizabeth began to tie the curtains back to help illuminate the room and reveal anything she could use to descend to the ground. As she hooked the cord to the side, her hand froze. She quickly unhooked the cord.

******

The pirates of the Black Pearl, disguised as the merchant crew of the Talon, disembarked their longboat at the Port Royal docks. Tyler and a few of the others had been left aboard the Ophelia to provide back-up should it become necessary. Left with them were Vasquez, Baker and Grant and those who would attempt to retake the Pearl as she sat anchored in the harbor, nearly deserted because of the upcoming ceremony. The remainder accompanied Jack, Gibbs, and Cotton on into town.

At the end of the dock, Jack turned to his men. "Now remember lads, no filching on the way there. Anyone jeopardizes this over a bit of cheap shiny had best to just keep moving along. There'll be no place for that man aboard the Pearl when we get 'er back. Savvy?" The crew nodded in agreement.

Upon reaching the marketplace, they all split up into groups of two or three. Jack had given orders to meet up at the mansion. A horde of them moving towards it seemed likely to attract suspicion in Jack's mind. Gibbs stayed with Jack. The two of them tried to appear interested in the wares of various booths and carts as they made their way though the market.

Jack kept in motion to prevent anyone getting too good a look, but he had to reign in the pattern of sea-sway that had become a part of how he moved. Gibbs watched with an amused expression as Jack would start one of his fluid hand gestures and then suddenly stop only to continue again stiffly. He walked very awkwardly, almost as if the boots he wore were a size too small. Gibbs supposed they might well be, not being Jack's and all.

Within twenty minutes, they were standing at the open gates to the Governor's mansion. Jack's long fingers curled around the iron bars. He cast a look up at the windows, then back down the path to town once more. At last, he saw some of his men coming up the road. They waved to him. Jack met Gibbs' eyes.

"Ready, mate?"

"Aye, Jack. Lead the way."

The two of them started on toward the house. At the doorway, a man was posted. He wasn't stopping anyone from moving in and out freely (though most were either delivering to the house or taking things from inside and leaving for the fort while Jack and Gibbs were empty-handed). He was, however, scrutinizing everyone's looks.

Jack cleared his throat and smoothed down his coat-front. The next thing he did just about shocked ten years off of Gibbs' life. Jack strode up to the doorman and spoke, "I say there good man, is Mr. Chase about?" Jack spoke with an accent and manner that he would have expected out of someone like Will Turner, or James Norrington; but Jack Sparrow?

"He's up at the fort getting ready for his wedding."

"Oh, bother. I was to deliver a report to him as soon as we got to Port Royal."

"I thought that Azevedo was coming to do that."

Jack placed his hand over his heart. "I'm afraid Azevedo was killed. We were sent to finish that Captain Jack Sparrow fellow off and…" Jack looked left and right, then leaned conspiratorially closer to him. "It was horrible. Captain Jack Sparrow, he was like some wild demon. Barehanded while we were armed, he attacked us all; killed Azevedo on the spot. Got a couple of the others too before we were able to finish him off. I tell you mat… sir, I've never been so scared in all my born days."

Gibbs breathed a sigh of relief. Fancy put-on accent or not, this was definitely Jack Sparrow.

The doorman's eyes had gone wide. He quickly got a hold of himself. "Yes, well, Mr. Chase is at the fort. You'll have to deliver your report to him there."

Jack slid his arm around the other man's shoulders. "Do you think you could be a friend and let me leave a letter on Mr. Chase's desk delivering the report…along with my resignation?"

"Well I…"

"Do me a favor? You can't be blamed for one non-descript sailor slipping in amongst all the comings and goings today, can you? I just… I'm going back to being a tailor. I never want to set foot on a ship again. That Captain Jack Sparrow… his eyes will haunt me to my grave I fear." Jack shuddered dramatically.

Gibbs rolled his eyes and gave Jack a little kick in the shin.

"Ow!" Jack said then turned to the surprised looking doorman. "You'll have to forgive my friend. Been having uncontrollable muscle spasms ever since the attack. All the trauma, you know."

"That's right," Gibbs agreed and kicked Jack again, just to lend credibility to his story. "That Jack Sparrow were a monster."

"Captain Jack Sparrow," Jack corrected.

"Aye, Captain Jack Sparrow," Gibbs said.

Jack's eyes narrowed at him for a split second before he once again turned his attention back to the doorman. "What do you say, eh? Please?"

The doorman sighed. "All right. He's been staying in the Governor's old room. Turn right at the top of the stairs."

Jack patted his back and nodded. "You're a true gentleman." He and Gibbs started in.

"Hold it!"

They turned as one and looked at the doorman. "That's to the right and not the left. There's a locked door on the left which is to remain undisturbed, understand?"

"Of course," Jack said, fighting a smile.

"And don't be nicking anything inside. I know what you look like."

"I assure you, I wouldn't dream of taking anything from this house that didn't belong to me, friend."

The doorman seemed placated with his answer and went back to his duties. Jack and Gibbs strolled inside. At the bottom of the stairs, Jack turned to his first mate. "I guess I'll be going in on the left. You?"

Gibbs slipped a club down from inside his sleeve. "Guess I'll be mingling with Chase's men. See if any of them are feeling unexpectedly sleepy."

Jack smiled. "Do it quietly, Mr. Gibbs."

"Aye, Captain."

Gibbs stayed on the ground floor while Jack climbed the stairs. Jack looked to see that no one was watching him and turned left at the top. He tried one door which opened to a closet, the next one he came to was locked. He reached up under his hat and twisted at one of the trinkets in his hair. The end came off and he pulled it out. It had a thin metal end. He'd picked it up not long after his return from World's End. He'd vowed that there'd be no more cells with naught but bone to try the lock with; nor shackles that required oil and the loss of skin to slip. Today, he mentally added that to the many vows he was happy he made recently. Quietly as he could, he worked it in the keyhole until he heard the lock unlatch. He slipped the pick into his pocket and carefully turned the knob, peeking around the door as he did so.

******

Elizabeth surveyed her work. She had collected the curtain cords from every window in the room. She had also utilized every belt in her knapsack. Now she tied one end of her makeshift rope to the leg of the bed and tugged against it with all her bodyweight. The knot did not loosen nor did the cord snap. Elizabeth exhaled loudly. That was one test down. Now she just had to work up enough nerve to trust it not to fail her once she was dangling from it out the window. Not that a fall like that was liable to kill her; but all it would take was one broken leg to make her getaway impossible. Elizabeth hoisted her knapsack over her shoulder and started for the window, letting the cord thread through her fingers.

"And what is it you think you're doing there?" A male, refined voice spoke.

The voice startled Elizabeth badly. She gasped and spun to face the intruder, dropping her knapsack behind the bed. "I-I-I…" She took a deep breath and drew herself up to her full height. "Who the Hell do you think you are?"

The intruder smiled, "I don't know, Love. Why don't ye tell me who I am?"

The refined tone was gone. Elizabeth blinked. That smile. Hope swelled within her. She squinted and leaned her head towards him. "Jack?" she said disbelievingly.

His smile widened revealing gold teeth. "Was there ever any doubt?" Jack held his arms open to her.

Tears filled her eyes even as she smiled. Elizabeth charged towards his open arms. She jumped up on him, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck.

Jack's arms closed around her. He nuzzled against her hair. "You wore pink for me again?"

Elizabeth had forgotten. Somehow, the fact that in the middle of all of this insanity, he'd noticed that stupid little detail… She openly began to cry. Jack rubbed her back, calming her. She slid to the ground and pulled back to look at him. She touched his clean-shaven face and looked into his unadorned brown eyes.

"Well?" he asked.

She sniffled and smiled a watery smile. "I like it."

Jack got a worried look. "Better?" He arched an eyebrow.

Elizabeth shrugged. "Not better. Just different."

He grinned. "That's a relief."

Elizabeth leaned in and kissed him. His tongue tempted her mouth to part. She felt a shiver pass though her as he kissed her back. She broke the kiss before that feeling enticed her beyond her common sense.

"We've got to get out of here," she said.

Jack nodded at the rope. "What was all this then? Did ye not think I would come for you?"

Elizabeth smiled. "I knew you'd come for me. I just didn't know if you'd come in time. I knew if I escaped on my own, you'd find me."

Jack smiled proudly at her and stole another kiss. "What's in the bag, Love?"

"My sailor clothes."

"Right, change into them and I'll get you out of here. We'll walk out the front door."

Elizabeth's brow furrowed at this notion. "Surely it's guarded?"

"That it is. But they're looking for a lady, not a little lad carrying things to the fort for the wedding, are they? There's lots of them in and out of here today." Jack reached down into his boot and pulled the pistol he'd stowed there. "Here, I want you to take this." He handed it to her.

Elizabeth took it and picked up her knapsack. She put the pistol on the seat of the large beige chair in the corner and sat her bag next to it. Opening the bag, Elizabeth pulled out the masculine clothes inside before beginning to work on the laces of her bodice.

Jack crossed to the window and closed it. "I'll get you aboard the Pearl and have Gibbs set sail. Then I'll come back here and take care of Chase."

Elizabeth's hands froze. "What?"

"It's no problem. I've still got the Ophelia. When I'm done with old Gabriel, we'll rendezvous."

Elizabeth walked to him. "I'm not leaving without you."

"You most certainly are."

"We'll go together or not at all."

Jack grabbed her arm and tried to lead her back to her clothes. Elizabeth dug in her heels and refused to be moved another step. He turned to face her and cradled her face in his hands. "We can't run anymore, Lizzie. That's no way to live eh? Just waiting for him to find us again when we both know that he will."

"I'd rather run than risk losing you, Jack."

"Have a little faith in me, Love."

"I've all the faith in the world in you. It's just…he won't fight fair."

Jack grinned. "Pirate," he reminded her.

"Yes, but Chase has the advantage here in Port Royal. I agree he must be confronted but can't we do it somewhere else? Tortuga perhaps? Please, Jack, I love you."

Jack smiled. "I love you too, Lizzie; which is why I'm trying to make sure you're safe; but I've got to do this now. Either way it turns out, Chase's game ends today."

"I have to agree with you on that one, Sparrow." They both turned toward the door in surprise at the sound of Chase's voice. "This does end today." Gabriel Chase advanced a few more paces into the room, sword clutched in hand.

Jack reached back and pulled his concealed sword. He shoved Elizabeth behind him and grinned cockily. "Thanks for settling this row between me and the missus. I'll take care of you and then we'll go to the Pearl together. Solves everything rather nicely." Jack began to inch to the right. As he hoped, Chase's attention followed him. Elizabeth slowly moved to the left, edging towards the chair. "We'll settle up as we should have done long ago."

"Oh yes," Chase said, smiling. His eyes roamed over to where Elizabeth was. She froze in place, willing him not to see the pistol on the chair.

"You'll never know how much I enjoyed setting that fire," Jack said.

Chase's eyes snapped back to Jack's position. "Oh, I've never had any doubts about that, Sparrow." From inside his jacket, Chase pulled a pistol and aimed it at Jack. "And you'll never know how much I enjoyed this." He cocked it, his finger slipping around the trigger. In the space of a breath, he had swung the pistol to Elizabeth's location and pulled the trigger.

The sound of the shot, Elizabeth's scream and Jack yelling her name all seemed to blend in the confusion of the moment. A smile of utter contentment spread across Chase's face. Jack saw Elizabeth clutch her chest and a gush of blood swell up underneath her fingers as she dropped to the ground. He started to step in her direction only to catch Chase in his peripheral vision, rushing at him, blade first.

Jack spun and parried, taking a vicious slice out of Chase's gun hand, forcing him to drop the firearm. Jack once again tried to reach Elizabeth who was now curled on the floor with her back to him. Chase transferred his sword to his now bleeding right hand and lunged for Jack again.

Jack deflected the blow and went at Chase full on. He growled in rage as he realized he was going to have to kill Chase before he could even get near his wife. Now on the offensive, Jack made a series of slices that Chase warded off easily. However, it managed to back Chase across the room and away from where Elizabeth lay.

Chase stabbed at Jack, which he blocked. The other man sliced and Jack stopped it with his blade. A quick flick of Jack's wrist had him slashing across his nemesis' hitherto unscarred cheek, his eyes blazing with satisfaction as Chase raised a shaking hand to his face and wiped at the blood there.

"And now you've a matching pair. I'll take ye a slice at a time if I have to, Gabriel." Jack smirked. Behind him, he heard Elizabeth moan. Instinctually, his head began to turn in her direction. Before she was in his vision, he saw Chase's sword sweep around. He'd only been distracted for a second; a second too long he realized as Chase's sword pierced his side. Jack's eyes widened in shock as he looked down. He groaned in pain as the blade was removed from his body and a warm rush of crimson followed its exit. Jack dropped to his knees.

Chase towered over him, staring down, smugly. "Whereas I will dispose of you all at once. Much more efficient wouldn't you agree, Sparrow?" Chase barked a laugh and raised his blade in preparation of driving it home.

Suddenly, Jack's face was sprayed with warm liquid. Jack scrambled back, away from his foe. He looked up and blinked trying to make sure he was actually seeing what he thought he was seeing. His eyes did not deceive him. A hole had appeared in the middle of Chase's forehead. Blood ran from the wound, rolling down his face past eyes that no longer saw. The blade in Chase's hand clattered noisily to the ground as he sunk to his knees and folded backwards. Gabriel Chase was dead.

Just to be on the safe side, Jack buried his blade in Chase's heart. When the man didn't flinch, Jack exhaled. He looked past the corpse, expecting to see Gibbs. Instead, he saw Elizabeth. She was white, shaking, bloody; one hand clutching the back of the large beige chair while the other held Jack's smoking pistol. She smiled at Jack and he returned it. Then she dropped the gun to the floor. Her eyes rolled up under her eyelashes and she fell to the floor beside it.

"Lizzie!" Jack yelled. Hand gripping his bleeding wound, he rolled to his side and pushed himself to his knees. He stood just long enough to get a couple of strides in before sinking back to his knees and crawling the rest of the way to Elizabeth's side. Jack rolled her onto her back and found himself a little relief in that the bullet had entered the right side of her chest instead of the left.

Jack pulled Elizabeth across his lap, wincing at the pain the movement caused. His hands covered her wound to try and staunch her bleeding even as the slit in his own side caused the scarlet pool on the floor to grow larger with each passing moment. "Lizzie?" He said weakly, emotion starting to constrict his throat. "Lizzie, please?" He drew in a deep breath that caused his wound to send shocks of pain throughout his system. "GIBBS!!!!" Jack shouted as loud as he could. His vision dimmed gray with the effort and he became very woozy. He once again looked down on Elizabeth, unconscious in his arms. He hoped she was only sleeping. She was so damn pale and the blood on her skin and dress was so harshly red in comparison. He could feel himself losing consciousness; the dimness of his vision slowly swirling black. Jack concentrated on Elizabeth's face because, if he never woke again, that was the image he wanted to carry into the next world.


TBC: CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Departure