Author's Note: Hello. I messed up! If you read chapter 19 before July, I highly suggest skimming through it again now that I remembered a big ol' plot point and edited things to reflect that. I was following the script way too closely lol. Also, this chapter will have some things previously in chapter 19 AND I edited 19 a bit to be nicer.

"Be careful if you find them, Commodore."

James Norrington mulled Charlotte's words over in his mind as The Dauntless crept forward through an impossible fog.

"There are... strange things out here... "

He'd heard the words repeat again and again as Jack put his compass away and gave advice and then clambered into a rowboat far more dramatically than Miss Swann had when she left. Was that what made her words stay? How simply she'd said them? How unusually earnest she'd been?

"Things that won't die."

The commodore ordered his men ready for battle, sent Swann to his room, drew his sword, and looked out toward where glimpses of the island could be seen through the fog. The ship was settling now, all men at their posts, ready and waiting in silence.

Just the lap of the waves.

Then.

Cannon fire.

...

The cannons echoed throughout the cave as well and Charlotte did her best to seem nonplussed, sitting on the edge of the Aztec chest and looking out over the rest of the room. The fog had cleared out with the pirates and the remaining few men had spread out as well. Barbossa sat nearest, halfway down the small mound with his back to her. Will and a pirate guard were next, standing beside the stream. Charlotte could feel her sister's presence, creeping closer to their backs. Jack was across the room, rummaging around through various objects.

It was tempting to go curl up somewhere and hide until this was all over. The only comfort was the small golden coin tucked away in her boot now. And that was not much of a comfort.

Charlotte watched as Jack looked back at them and then started making some dramatic show of holding up a strange statue. She looked quickly down and away immediately: Elizabeth was at Will's back, raising a knife toward his bound hands.

Charlotte licked her lips nervously and pulled up one leg, setting the boot with the coin over the opposite knee and trying not to picture the pirate guard turning and stabbing a sword through Elizabeth's heart.  She wanted to speak up and distract but she wanted no eyes turning toward this part of the cave.

"I must admit, Jack." Barbossa said suddenly and Charlotte nearly fainted. "I thought I had you figured."  There was a quick breath of surprise from Will but Charlotte couldn't dare look to see what had happened. "But it turns out you're a hard man to predict."

"Me? I'm dishonest." Jack turned and Charlotte's head cocked to the side as he easily waved the gold statue about. Not pure gold then, she thought, allowing her amusement to distract her. "And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest."

Charlotte heard just the softest movement. She glanced to the side to find Elizabeth was gone, back into hiding. Will caught her looking and gave her an inquiring look--he probably had no idea who had just freed him, did he? Charlotte leaned toward him, arms raising to support her chin. Did he even know Elizabeth was free?

She studied the sharpness in his eyes.

Did he think Charlotte was sitting here casually while her sister was dead?

There was a clank and Charlotte leapt off the chest in surprise, sword in her hand before she realized it was just Jack continuing toward them all with his hands now empty.

"It's the honest ones you want to watch out for." Jack pointed up at her, always the perfect target for his whims. Barbossa turned and gave her an amused look, drawing his sword before recognizing the confusion on her face and turning back toward Jack. "Because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly..."

"Jack..." Charlotte warned.

There was a pirate beside him, tossing rocks into the stream. Jack slowed to stop behind him.

"Stupid."

Jack pulled the sword from the man's belt and raised a foot to launch the pirate into the stream. A moment later, the sword was flying across the room and Will's freed hands were revealed as he caught it and turned in one smooth movement to fight the pirate beside him.

This left Charlotte looking down at a furious Barbossa's back.

So she did the only thing she could think of.

And jumped on.

...

Norrington turned and waved toward a soldier. "Gilette. Get eyes on them."

A spyglass was pulled out and Gilette began scanning, all other eyes jumping between him and the moonlit fog where the island should be. The cannon fire had died down to leave furious yelling and swearing.

Gradually, the world quieted. They could see nothing. The crew stayed silent leaving only the lapping of the waves to give any hints about what was out there.

The commodore leaned forward, gripping the rail with both hands and leaning forward in a pose reminiscent of the more timid Swann twin. A picture caught in his mind as the world grew quiet again; Charlotte, looking down, clothes caught in the wind, mind somewhere no one else could reach. Those calm, searching eyes that had often scanned the room as they danced, picking apart all the dark secrets of this new world.

"Commodore, there's a boat," Someone called.

Norrington began to call himself back, but some distant trace of Charlotte seemed to be calling for him from below. A siren's song whispering, singing, that if he just looked back to the waves he would see her safe once again.

He looked down.

Immediately, he drew his sword and threw himself backward, eyes scanning every part of the ship.

"To arms! Watch the rails."

Frozen in his mind was the way the moonlight hit the water. 

The slight distortions as the waves played with it.

The skeletal pirate looking up to meet his eyes.

...

Charlotte was discovering that having her arms around an undead man's neck was less advantageous than she would have liked. She had managed to unbalance Barbossa and was able to watch as Will and Elizabeth drew three of the pirates off more downstream. The pirate Jack had kicked was making his way out of the water, spitting and clawing at the piles of gold as they slipped away beneath his clawing fingers. Jack was approaching with purpose in his eyes.

If she had a knife, she could simply take an ordinary man out. In theory. In reality, she wasn't sure how to get either of her hands free, much less grab at her sword. She didn't have much more time to consider as Barbossa let out a yell of rage and threw his head forward, launching Charlotte straight into the approaching Jack.

Governor's daughter and pirate captain tumbled over each other down the streambank, Jack receiving an elbow to the face and Charlotte knocking her head against the ground. Jack was back up again after a wink, the clang of steel coming moments later from the direction he'd gone. She lay dazed for a moment, trying to pick out her place in all this.

Her head hurt.

She missed James.

"Charlotte!"

She struggled up at Will's voice, sword out in an instant-the largest pirate had left his friends to deal with hers and was thundering toward her with a blade the width of her arm.

There was no way--no way she could win against him--but the gold coin in her boot kept her from looking for an escape. She set her jaw and slid a foot forward, muscle memory of Will's lessons guiding her limbs.

Charlotte waited until the tall pirate swung with a roar and then dodged to the side, meeting his sword with hers just enough to stop him from following. She danced around behind him and sliced at his knees, rewarded by another roar. 

Had that done anything?

The pirate swung around and stumbled after her. She blocked and dodged again. Again. Again. Every time she got behind him, she took little jabs to make him angrier. Angrier. Angrier. His aim was getting more reckless.

Their dance made its way to a less cluttered part of the cave, Charlotte driven back for most of it. She could see Elizabeth making her way after, Will following behind to guard her back.

Did she tell them she was fine? That would spoil things for Jack but...

A yell and gasp of pain brought her eyes toward Barbossa and Jack, nearly at the cave's edges. Her eyes quickly picked out the blade buried in Jack's chest as he stumbled backward, the way the metal glimmered in the moonlight. Her opponent's eyes followed hers and he let out a curse. Puzzled, Charlotte's eyes moved to Jack's face only to find that it was gone.

Charlotte let a small scream slip from her throat.

She didn't want to be that. She didn't want to look like that. She didn't want Elizabeth to see that.

Stomach churning, she swung with all her might at the distracted pirate. Her blade met flesh and a bony forearm fell into the moonlight nearby, skittering with her sword onto the stone floor.

Charlotte's numb fingers raised and she stared blankly at her now empty palm.

"You'll pay." The pirate growled.

He threw his own sword down and then her feet were off the ground, his hand wrapped around her throat. She grabbed uselessly at his wrist as he swung her around toward where his other hand had flown. They neared the pool of moonlight as the clangs of Jack's fight began again, drowning out any protesting noise that might have made it out of her struggling lungs.

It shouldn't feel like this, should it?

She shouldn't hurt anymore?

The pirate threw her hard onto the ground, Charlotte's body landing dead center of the soft light. Her hands raised defensively as the pirate leaned forward, letting his arm jump back into place and standing straight again to flex it. Silvery light trickled through her fingers, shadows across her face where the bruised skin remained in place.

Charlotte's eyes narrowed.

The pirate, no reason to be surprised by a human girl looking up at him, grabbed Charlotte's blade and drove it into her stomach.