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Chapter 32: Final Confrontations

"Figures." Fiona didn't even register the scathing look Elizabeth aimed in her direction. "Bet she went to assist Carpenter." This got her a horror stricken look from Elizabeth and Will both.

"I thought she might try something." Jack waved the now melancholy couple out his door and all but slammed it behind them; this was not what he wanted to hear. "I knew she would try something…I actually didn't think she was stupid enough to run of with the devil himself."

"Who said she isn't the devil and he's the lackey?" He turned to her intense dark gaze seeing concern was now reflected in her face. "You don't think she's been working with him all along do you?" he did not like the sounds of where she was going with this and returned to bed sliding beside her, his hand lacing in her hair lost in contemplation.

"For our sake…I bloody well hope not." He glanced over at his desk and the map. "I wonder how much of the map she memorized?" Fiona sat up to meet his frustrated expression.

"Probably enough to keep up for a bit…I didn't get her out of here fast enough, I should have known something was off." She felt oddly guilty, almost as though she had let Jack down.

He noticed her sad expression and smirked slightly. "Love, ye did fine and even I was fooled by her…don't beat yerself up; ye have been through enough beatings for one trip." To her surprise he leaned down capturing her lips in a soft deep kiss, pulling her into a warm embrace.

There was a lot of work to be done and no time for them to test their new bond further, both climb from bed dressing quickly and were out on deck in a matter of minutes. Jack announced they were now aiming to beat an unknown time table and that work would have to double due to this fact, Fiona didn't complain and instantly ran off to start assisting where she was needed. "I just hope wherever we're going the only thing to worry about are Kylee and Carpenter." She noticed Jacks expression harden in determination, things were going to become rather complicated and now they were both in it together.

Several days of little sleep and heavy work went by. Fiona was wearing down and rapidly thanks to the constant pace they had to keep to avoid any problems with the pirates on their tail and the menacing banshee as she had become known over time. Elizabeth and Will were doing more then their share of work and she figured it was mostly out of guilt for getting them into the mess to begin with. Her and Jack had been taking turns sleeping in the cabin and she had even learnt how to handle the pearl thanks to his insistence on the matter, he wanted her to be able to do most every job on the ship. Fiona was now barely able to keep her eyes open staring from the crows nest during her watch duty, the air was getting cool which was about the only thing keeping her functioning at the moment. The wind had thankfully picked up making them glide along faster and more agilely then ever, she sighed staring out across the large ocean before her. "I haven't had time with Jack since Kylee abandoned ship." She smiled at the thought, once she would have rather thrown him overboard and now she wanted to be wrapped in his arms, things were definitely changing for the better.

Anna-Maria stepped up beside her and smirked at the almost wistful smile on Fiona's face. "Ye be to bloody happy with tha man." Fiona turned smirking at the twinkle hidden among her friends gaze.

"Tell me something I don't know…besides it is your fault, at least partially." Anna-Maria rolled her eyes at this and glanced out across the water. "How long before we reach where he's going?"

"Soon…he's been too amused with his bloody compass." Fiona smiled at Anna-Maria's thoughtful expression. "Ye go ge some res, I'll take over for now…ye migh convince him to sleep a bi while yer at it, he hasn' been to sleep for at least twenty-four hours tha I know of…he's exhausted."

Fiona nodded making her way quickly down the mast and landing lightly on her feet, sure enough Jacks eyes were much darker then the kohl would allow and he could barely see straight at the helm. She walked up wrapping her arms around the exhausted Jack and noticed the briefest of smirks barely cross his face, she pointed to Gibbs and ignored Jacks protests steering him to the cabin. Both collapsed without a whole lot of effort on their part, and were soon in a deep exhausted sleep. Still highly exhausted and irritable Fiona sat up in bed and smiled down seeing Jack was still gone off in dreamland, he looked rather peaceful and she didn't feel the need to disturb him at the moment…until she heard a very brief sound of chaos above deck and groaned.

She gently poke at Jack watching him reluctantly wake and meet her gaze. "Trouble…unless we're at the destination you've been waiting for." He muttered something in response, it sounded like swearing, she wasn't entirely sure.

Slowly he replaced his effects and coat smirking at the almost as tired as himself Fiona. "Ye look tired love…" she rose a brow at his amused tone. "I don't look much better I bet…let's go see what the noise is about."

She nodded climbing to her feet and following him out on deck. The crew was excited at the prospect of an island in the distance, judging by Jacks amused expression it was the destination they had been searching for and for once Fiona felt relieved. This meant they could sleep for the day and be on the island by morning, unfortunately that was out of the question when she felt Jack grasp her hand and start to lead the way to a now being lowered long boat. "Damn, I wanted to sleep." She ignored the highly amused grin on his face and reluctantly followed him. This was going to be a far longer trip then she wanted and she was exhausted to boot. Once inside the long boat she noticed supplies to stay on the island and was all too aware of the fact they had Will and Elizabeth with them, Anna-Maria and Gibbs were also part of the team to go ashore.

Fiona leaned into Jacks arm around her and studied the island as they approached. The beach was very little and the thing had an interesting amount of foliage making up the greater half of the thing, she knew from experience that this would mean trouble and she knew this due to Jack track record with finding trouble. Once the longboat hit the beach she reluctantly climb from the craft watching Gibbs and Will haul out the supplies from the small craft and tie it off, Elizabeth and Anna-Maria studied the surroundings suspicious of what kind of trouble they would find. "I don't like this one bit." Fiona observed his dark gaze steadily traveling around their surroundings and realized there was more to the island then he let on.

She tugged on his jacket watching his gaze meet hers. "What aren't you telling me?" he almost winced at her observation; he had yet to mention the catch with finding a treasure once guarded by Gypsies. "Jack?" she was loosing her patience and was very cranky at the moment.

He glanced at the others and pulled her close to his side leaning down near her ear. "Ye be the only one that can get us through to the treasure, it was once guarded by gypsies…it means only ye can safely remove it." She scowled at his almost amused smirk and shrugged off his arm.

"Pirate." She noticed Gibbs and the others were setting up camp and returned her concentration on Jack. "What about everything else on the island?"

"Need to be careful as we go along, I would imagine there are various traps that even ye can stop." She rolled her eyes giving him a look of contempt, then she sighed in surrender; she knew what she got herself into the minute they admitted to caring for one another. "Ye aren't going to throttle me?" he sounded almost amused by her lack of threat in her hard gaze.

"Not yet." She yawned staring at the thick foliage around her and turned back to the now burning fire and talking group. "Can we sleep first?" he chuckled at her crankiness and nodded walking over to the others.

They all camped out to sleep for a while, a much needed rest for all of them. The group would head out through the woods in the morning and deal with all issues then. Fiona felt movement beside her and all but cursed before realizing Jack was awake and observing their surroundings, he looked severely preoccupied at the moment. "He moved…what was that?" she was now alert to things other then Jacks movement, manly the sounds of breaking branches and also noticed that it was just before dawn. Elizabeth, Will, Anna-Maria and Gibbs were also wide eyed and alert to the various noises, whatever was coming there was many of them.

"Let's go." He was instantly on his feet hauling Fiona to hers and motioning the others to a side way into the foliage infested island, someone was cutting their way through the jungle and appeared to have a good idea where to look for them. "Ye think what I think love?"

"Unfortunately…damn it." She kept to his side noticing the others had fallen almost deathly silent, and finally as expect Carpenters crew come slicing their way through the jungle and to their surprise a very evil looking Kylee was thrown to the sand at his feet.

"Ye said that this be the part Jack had planned to land on woman." Carpenter ignored the dark glare he received from Kylee, she carefully slid to her knees in front of where the fire had once burned and felt lightly near the ash. "Did they even know ye were helping me?"

Kylee snorted in response to his cocky behavior, she hadn't liked him since the day she met him. "No, and they were here not long ago…still warm." She flicked some ash at his feet offering a wry smile. "If Elizabeth knew I was mixed up with a pirate like you…I would have been hung in Port Royal…daddy was hoping I would straighten out there."

Fiona grabbed Elizabeth who was about to expose them all in a furious huff, she then shook her head in warning noticing Jack raise his brow at the odd confrontation before him. "I hate being right." Jack motioned for the others to follow him keeping Fiona directly behind him and led the way as silently as possible away from the others. This was now officially complicated and they had two devils to contend with.

The small group continued to follow Jack cautiously through the thickening forest around them, aware that very soon they would have a lot of angry people on their trail. They had managed to maneuver around several traps Jack had found, including spiked logs, pits of spikes, flying arrows, and several pit drops full of various other dangers. "Whoever these gypsies were…they loved sharp things." Fiona ducked along with the others as several daggers shot from somewhere automatically; she then glanced down at Jacks almost sour look seeing she had found the trigger.

"Sorry…didn't see it." He normally would have told her off, but since their growing bond and getting along he only rolled his eyes and continued the lead the way. Elizabeth wasn't as kind on the matter and glowered at her back.

Elizabeth stumbled slightly and started muttering to herself. "Watch for those things." Fiona turned giving her a warning look and halted watching Elizabeth become airborne with a rope around her ankle, she then promptly started giggling.

"How about you watch too?" Will wasn't amused in the least and cut his wife down seeing several amused glances shared among the others. "What's that ahead Jack?" He paused in their attempt slicing through the forest with swords and followed her pointed finger.

There before them several feet ahead was a clearing, there appeared to be several unoccupied old houses now down in disrepair, and damaged over time. Cautiously he studied the area and continued to lead them toward the small village. All froze taking in the scene before them, the village had once been a thriving community with several shops, houses, business's, and other various things.

He regarded Fiona who studied the various signs written in her people's language. "This was the gypsy village…they must have traded with outsiders once, this place must have been rather active in its time." She noticed Jack pull out the cloth Tia Dalma had given him and watched a small map appear on the material, she studied the map realizing the island wasn't overly large and what they were looking for was hidden on the edge of the small town in a cavern area of sorts. Anna-Maria and Gibbs were ordered to set up a special welcome for their following friends, Elizabeth and Will were assigned to check the village for anything useful in an attempt to distract their enemies and then Jack took Fiona's arm and started outside the village.

She studied Jacks expression feeling him wrap her arm around his in an attempt to keep her close, he was taking Tia's advice to the extreme this time, something wasn't right and he could feel trouble ahead. She kept her gaze firmly locked at her feet for signs of traps and other obstacles; only occasionally stumbling here and there trying to keep up with Jacks odd swagger. Soon they were at the very edge of the village standing in front of an overgrown path she assumed would lead to the cavern areas.

"Dragging me along for the ride?" She smirked at his amused grin and kept her gaze locked on the path ahead.

"According to this map…we aren't far off from the treasure." She lowered her gaze to the ground at her feet. "Do ye have any idea what we may find in this thing?" she shook her head, she wasn't entirely sure of at all, she had never been really good at listening to her grandmother or the stories of her people until recently.

"All I know is I got a bad feeling about this place, we had better hurry." He nodded in agreement slicing his way through the overgrown path. "Jack…why do you always seem to find the worst kind of trouble?" he smirked continuing to slice through the pathway.

"I don't really know love, found ye though didn't I?" she gave him an irritated look.

"I resent being considered trouble." She jerked him back cursing as several blades flew up in the path and staring down at the rock trigger under her foot. "Then again…I might be."

Jack studied the sharp blades closely. "Cutting it a bit close love?" she glowered at his poor sense of humor at the moment and smacked him beside the head, this reminded him that even though they had gotten through some obstacles she was still Fiona. "Bloody hell." He rubbed his head and continued more cautiously toward a looming cave opening in the distance.

Gibbs, Anna-Maria and the others weren't having a whole lot of luck with their orders at the moment. The village was nearly striped clean of any useful things and the traps they had managed were minor irritants at best, Carpenters crew wouldn't be stopped for long and none of them knew whether Kylee was a prisoner, or actually helping. She appeared to be willing but things could be deceiving, at least Elizabeth hoped that was the case with her cousin.

"Jack…that doesn't look even remotely safe." Fiona glanced ahead at the large mouth of the cave; it reminded her of a cat waiting for the canary to fly into its mouth. There was also a very rickety bridge that led across a short distance, but there was a significant drop below. "Are you sure there isn't a curse of some weird creature involved?"

He offered her a charming grin, which only made her scowl in turn. "Ye know me love…never can tell." She really didn't need to hear that.

"Damn you." She cautiously stepped on the bridge hearing him follow behind, due to the fact she was the gypsy it was reasonable she would have to go first for obvious reasons. "I swear I'll take you with me." He smirked placing his hands lightly on her waist keeping them both steady.

"Promise?" She muttered incoherently under her breath, but couldn't hide the amused smile on her face and continued on ahead across the bridge. "Ye know Fiona…I don't think yer ever going to change."

"It's not like you will either…solid ground, finally." She stepped into the cave and shuddered at the odd foreboding feeling it gave off, this place had something evil about it, she just couldn't put her finger on it. "Next?"

He pulled out the map stepping beside her so they could both observe it together. "Into the cave…

"Naturally…

"Fiona, let me finish." She scowled at his amused grin. "Down the left tunnel, apparently the right one if full of not so nice traps, ye of coarse will keep us safe if we go down the correct tunnel." She gave him a funny look.

"You mean this is a puzzle of wits, the map doesn't always give you the right way?" he shrugged handing it to her and noticed it changed in her hands. "I hate you." She studied the map for a moment and glanced into the cave.

"Ye lie like a pirate." She gave him a glower before both entered into the cave.

"Jerk." She smiled at his amused expression and led the way down a thin path until they come to an interesting fork. The map had changed the deeper in the cave they went and now she was faced with choosing the path, problem was the map would lie so she had to go by instinct on this one. They were also fighting against time and several dangerous pirates out to get them; it made this much more confusing and harder for her at the same time. Reluctantly she studied both direction and noticed Jack observing things carefully around him, the environment appeared the change almost as quickly as the map itself. She finally pointed to the right and grabbed his arm ignoring his shocked look, there was no way she was trusting the map to be right or the environment; it was time to trust her own instincts on the matter.

She led the way quickly down the cave without incident and down several more moving in so many directions that she had no clue how they would find their way back. Jack observed how nervous she seemed in the cave, but decided it wise to go with her instincts it wasn't often Tia Dalma was wrong. He wrinkled his nose at the idea and kept his eyes locked on things around them in case of trouble, she halted feeling Jack collide into her he caught her and managed to maintain both their balances. "What is this place?" she noticed the clearing in the cave was full of hundreds of odd sculptures she couldn't begin to describe; she only knew they were ugly and oddly threatening.

Fiona turned to look at Jack reaction to the sculptures and wished she didn't. "You don't think they work like those rock people…do you?" he didn't meet her gaze, he only studied the cave. "Did I mention I really hate your ideas sometimes?" she noticed a large chest in the middle of the room and realized it had to be the treasure they had chased to this island.

He pointed to the four statues nearest to the chest. "They move." She glowered at his obvious statement; the statues had red eyes and were studying the pair almost daring them to enter the cave. "I don't think they like me love…yer the gypsy, I'm not."

"I don't want to go in alone." Fiona met his curious gaze and frowned; she knew that look and also knew she had no choice. "Is there another catch we're missing?" he offered her an almost smile, but shook his head anyway. "I'm going to cripple you Jack Sparrow." She entered the cave noticing the creatures remained positioned observing Jack and paying her no mind.

He kept watching the statues. "Captain…Fiona." She winced turning to offer him her most evil of looks. "Ye might want to check for catches, didn't know of any though." He figured it was safer to add that to avoid any attempt on his well being, after all he was still dealing with Fiona and she didn't loose her violent streak yet.

She easily walked past the staring creatures, unnerved by how they completely ignored her and kept observing Jack. She then leaned down studying the chest intently and read the fine runes carved in the chest carefully. "Only a gypsy may take what is within, if the bond is broken by another…they will meet a very sore fate." She did not like the sounds of that and cautiously opened the chest, inside was various gems, precious metals, and even some rare texts and such. She then shut the lid and proceeded to drag the chest to the exit, unfortunately it wasn't as light at it appeared and she had to struggle. She finally managed to get it through the opening and stopped taking several deep breaths.

"Don't." She slapped his hand before he could attempt to help her lift it. "If I'm reading the damn curse on this thing…I have to drag it all the way out, otherwise those might chow down on us." She pointed to the statues still watching them.

He frowned at this and nodded realizing she was more then likely right. "A shortcut?" she did not like how easily the entrance suddenly shifted into view, but started toward it hearing Jack muttering softly behind her. "Outside thankfully." She paused finally stopping long enough to catch her breath again, this time she didn't stop Jack from lifting the chest and was greeted with a very ugly howl like sound from somewhere deep inside the cave. "Uh oh."

"I think it applied until the chest left the island love." She turned glaring at him, but hauled the other end up and both started to make an awkward dash toward the village ahead.

Those statue creatures were worse looking then any gargoyle statue she had ever seen in her time and could easily rip them apart, this forced her to speed up ignoring the weight of the chest her and Jack were carrying half hazardously with them. Once they hit the village the others all turned in their direction hearing something coming after Jack and her fast. Without much hesitation Gibbs assisted Jack and the group started to quickly move back through the village and toward the beach to the boat.

"Bugger." Jack and the others froze at the sight of Carpenter and his group. The traps had been minor annoyances at best, which left them with trouble from front and back.

"Tramp and Pirate." Kylee cursed when Carpenter shoved her violently forward at Jack and Fiona's feet.

"Stupid girl." He offered that familiar smile that had made Fiona's blood run cold. "Ye all can die now."

Kylee suddenly realized her error; she had been tricked and because of her anger and hatred for so many was now getting what she deserved. "I guess I should have seen this coming, a one way ticket straight to hell…ah well fun while it lasted." She offered her own cold grin at Carpenter, this confused him a great deal until he noticed the pistol in her hand, she had easily slipped it from his side during his abusive hold on her.

"I never let others drive fear into me, I also don't loose without a good fight back." She ignored the snort behind her and kept her gaze locked on Carpenter, her aim was good and he knew it, had witnessed it when they first met. "Lizzie…your always going to be a pain in my arse, never liked you or your choice of friends much. I never planned on changing, your lucky I didn't smother you in your sleep." Elizabeth let out a shocked gasp and glowered at her cousins back.

"Told you she was evil in carnet." Elizabeth gave Fiona a scowl that could freeze the seven seas. "We have to worry about…that." She heard the sounds cease and noticed several of Carpenters crew turn a deathly shade of white, Carpenter was too busy watching Kylee to notice the trouble they all were in at the moment.

"As much as I hate ye woman…let them deal with Carpenter." Jack hauled Kylee to her feet and tossed the pistol over his shoulder, she gave him a deadly look until she noticed what was behind them.

Jack offered a charming, yet devilish grin at Carpenter and then led the others the opposite direction around them and moved quickly to the beach. No one cared to listen to the screams that followed or even registered Kylee was glaring daggers at Jack. Once they got to the long boats all loaded in quickly and started back toward the pearl. "I will kill them both eventually…at leas that obnoxious Gypsy." Kylee noticed Fiona was watching her with a perturbed look and kept studying Jack curiously. Once all had returned to the Black Pearl and the treasure was boarded to be properly spread about, Jack turned his attention to Kylee; Fiona could sense something was definitely going to happen she just wasn't entirely sure what.

"Lizzie…care to deal with yer kin?" He stepped aside watching Fiona step over beside him and observed Kylee eye Elizabeth with an almost amused look.

"What are you doing Jack?" Fiona whispered noting a far to amused smirk on his face, one she had witnessed many times.

"Letting Lizzie deal with the problem…she was good with dealing with me." He kept his gaze steady on Elizabeth and Kylee for a long while, he then noticed Elizabeth give him a confused look and step over to her cousin.

"As evil as she is Jack, I can't do anything to her." Elizabeth had an odd sparkle in her eyes, that made Fiona tilt her head thoughtfully.

"Nice try Jack." Kylee offered a smug look and studied Elizabeth thoughtfully. "Maybe you aren't so bad Lizzie." That's when she offered Kylee a kind smile and suddenly shoved her overboard hearing a loud splash.

"That felt pretty bloody good…once you manage to get her on board, lock her away…my father can deal with her." She walked off wrapping her arm around Will and continuing across the deck.

"I think she would make a good wife for Norrington." Jack gave Kylee an odd look between 'are you nuts' and 'I don't think so'. "I mean it would be like having you and me twenty-four seven, he would just beg to chase us around to get away from her."

Jack started laughing at Fiona's comment and then glanced out across the ocean. "Ye might have a point love…" He knew he would be stuck with her for a while, and oddly enough it didn't bother him a bit. "I just hope they don't learn to like each other…could be bad for us."

She smacked him for the comment and then leaned into his arm. "Don't curse us."

The End