The cannibals continued to drum and chant around us, gifting Jack revolting jewelry made of big human toes, and they put a necklace around my neck of dried severed tongues. I grimaced with disgust and looked over at Jack, who bit off a piece of one of the toes' nail.

"Don't put that in your mouth," I whispered to him in disgust, and he spit out the unsavory nail but re-examined the toe.

There were only a few words I understood confidently. Fi fi was 'fire', bugo was 'please', rah meant 'big', bal liki liki translated to 'Go', and maboogi snickle snickle was 'want more wood'. I figured that eunuchy snip-snip meant 'eunuch', and I naturally assumed that toute de suite was 'hurry'. Latazo was 'chief', and I had no idea what pe lala meant.

One of the cannibals was tossing small sticks into a pile, preparing for a fire as the rest of the tribe continued to dance and sing around him.

Jack stood up from his throne and ran over to him, "no, no. Oi! No, no."

I tilted my head contemptuously as the native paused as Jack yelled over the chanting, "more wood. Big fire! Big fire," and lifted his arms up to support his words, "I am chief. Want big fire! Come on."

The natives understood, and started adding larger blocks of wood to the pile. As they were distracted, Jack ran over to me and grabbed my arm, yanking me from my throne of sticks and whispered, "come on," as we ran for cover.

Moments later, the chanting stopped. Jack and I continued to run, sprinting down a rickety bridge made out of old rope, jungle vines, and wood. I attempted not to get thrown off by Jack's flailing arms.

We reached a cliff edge, and Jack tottered as he looked down.

"And now?" I asked, staring into the deep ravine below.

Jack looked around and noticed a hut. He appointed me as look out while he went inside. He asked, "what will you do if you see one? What is your plan of attack?"

I was too tired to think properly. I said, "I'm going to... hit him. He's going to... to... uh... fall on the..." I pointed to the ground because the name of it was slipping my mind.

"The ground," Jack stated.

"The ground... then... dun-dun," I finished with a sing-song voice.

"I like it. Simple, easy to remember. I'll be right out," he promised and disappeared into the hut.

I put my hands on my knees to catch my breath, and suddenly a large hand covered my mouth. I was scrambled to stand straight, trying to pry the hand off my mouth so I could yell out to Jack. I tried anyway, but my yells were muffled.

Jack walked outside of the hut, seeing me and the dozens of cannibals behind me. He was holding a rope and a can of paprika. His smile promptly disappeared and he said, "oh, bugger."

I stared at Jack fearfully, curious of how we could get out of this predicament. I could feel my palms sweating in suspense when I finally gave up trying to pry the hand off my mouth. I was afraid that Jack was going to try to make a run for it, saving himself and leaving me. Instead, he dropped the coil of rope and opened the can of paprika, which I noticed had the East India Trading Company logo on the bottom. He sprinkled the red power onto the armpits of his white flowy shirt. The cannibals were looking at each other in confusion, and even I was confused.

"A little seasoning, eh?" Jack joked, while being ironically earnest.

Soon enough, we were both tied to respective thick bamboo poles and the big wood that Jack required was ready for a big fire. Our backs were tied to the bamboo poles, and our ankles as well. So tight, there was barely enough room to swing as we were carried.

"Well done, Sparrow," I spat. "Do you have any more brilliant ideas?"

"I'm trying to think of one," he said as we got closer and closer to the pile of wood. "You could be a little more helpful."

The drums continued, and the people were dancing wildly. They placed Jack over the wood, but they continued to hold me. I assumed it was so I could wait for my turn. How long does it take to roast a human? An hour or two? I'll figure it out soon enough.

A man covered in paint came running and yelling in their language, stopping everything. He yelled a few things, resulting in cheers from the tribe. He held a lit torch, for which he moved to the giant pile of wood. Right before it ignited, another member of the tribe came running by with information, causing the torch to return back up to an upright position.

They all turned to Jack who responded, "well, go on, go get them."

The tribe began to cheer and run off. In their haste, one cannibal dropped their lighted torch near the pile of wood under Jack. Jack yelled, "no, no. Oi! No, no!"

The people holding me dropped me, causing me to land on my face. I managed to turn my head in time so I would not land on my nose, but I groaned and rolled to my side. I spit out the bit of dirt that snuck past my lips and I blinked away water that was leaking from my eyes as I watched Jack yell at them.

"Kick!" He called out to me. I took his command and managed to wiggle my legs free, but I was still unable to stand because my hands were still tied behind my back.

The cannibals were all gone and Jack said, "not good," and tired to blow the growing fire out. I was too far away to assist him. I tugged at my ropes, attempting to break free but I couldn't move. The fire started, and Jack whimpered, and tried futilely to blow out the ignited wood.

He began bouncing, and continued to blow. His bamboo stick slipped out from the branches that held him against the flame, letting him roll away.

He kicked his legs free, and helped me stand up. We ran off, not following the cannibals. We ran over one of the many rope bridges that the community had built in an attempt to escape and get as far away from them as possible. We were crouched forward, with our respective sticks still tied to our backs.

When we reached a flat surface, we gripped at our ropes, and Jack turned to say, "here, do you see the knot?" Nearly knocking me down with his stick.

"No," I said, standing on my tiptoes to reach. We grunted and thrashed around a bit before we both stopped simultaneously when we noticed a cannibal boy, holding makeshift silverware and silently staring at us.

Jack hopped over to the boy, and snatched the knife from his hand. When he ran away, I noticed two cannibal women watching us, holding plates of fruit. Jack screamed and started to charge at them, and they simply stepped out of his way. He tripped and his stick landed in a pile of coconuts near the cliffs edge, causing the stick to spear one of them. He lifted the dripping coconut out from the pile, and spun around suddenly so the coconut would fling off the pole and into a cannibals face. The cannibal caught it, scowling at Jack as coconut milk dripped from her face.

The natives began tossing the fruit our way, along with the coconuts. Jack and I dodged them, using our sticks as weapons. I grabbed the knife that Jack apparently dropped from the ground, and managed to cut the ropes from my hands and enough to loosen the stick from my back.

"Now me!" Jack ordered, but the fruits continued to be thrown at us, and I was too busy trying not to get my head struck with a coconut.

When Jack yelled, "stop it!" I noticed how much of a shish-ka-bab he looked like. Fruits had be impaled to his pole from both sides.

I looked at the natives who surrounded us and I declared, "I'll trade him for coconuts."

I noticed Jack eye the ledge for too long. I could see it in his eyes what he planned to do, and I gasped, "Jack—I've always known you were stupid but not that stupid!"

"No, I really am that stupid and if you don't believe me—watch!" Jack screamed out again, and began to run as fast as he could toward the ledge. His stick got stuck in a rock, pole vaulting him across the chasm. He flailed through the air and landed on the other side.

"Jack!" I screamed in disbelief. "You're mad!"

He turned back and said, "oh thank goodness. Because if I am in fact not living some wretched fever dream, I doubt that would have worked! Take a running shot, love!"

"I can't believe I'm doing this," I said to myself, and remembered what Elizabeth told me when we first met. Get into the mind of Jack, and you'll have luck like him. I grabbed my pole and I began my screaming, aiming my stick into the crevasse that Jack's had gone in. I swung my legs up for momentum, arching my back as I pole vaulted through the air and I landed on the other side. I dropped my stick and let it fall into the chasm below.

My heart was leaping out of my chest from the rush of exhilarating danger. My breathing was deep, and a gratifying smile emerged on my face from actually making it across. I never would have done that if Jack didn't do it first.

"I really didn't think that would work," Jack said, straightening up. Suddenly, his fruit began sliding back, putting weight on the end over the chasm, causing him to fall.

"Jack!" I gasped. I hesitated in reaching out for him, because he is heavier than me and would probably drag me down too.

I tried to take a step back but of course he grabbed a hold of me, causing me to fall down with him anyway, both of us screaming. His stick got caught between the two walls of the chasm, and he spun out of his ropes as I fell alongside him.

I felt his hands grasp at my wrists, and my heart was pounding out of my chest when I noticed that we had stopped. Jack was holding me by my wrists. I looked up at Jack and saw his foot was tangled in the rope, leaving us dangling and suspended in the air.

"You are hanging downside up!" I shouted in my panic.

"I think you mean upside down," he corrected while we were dangling.

"This is what I said," I said. When I thought we were stable, I muttered, "I hate you," as I looked down at the tremendous amount of space we had between us and the ground. I hesitated for a moment before I said, "now what, genius?"

"Working on it."

"I'm new to this whole sort of thing, but I'd consider this a step backwards, wouldn't you say?"

"It's fine... we will figure this out."

The pole was slowly sliding lose down the rock wall, which made my heart stop. My chest heaved in anticipation as Jack muttered, "bugger."

The stick snapped, having us fall through multiple rope bridges and our screams blended together in harmoney. In the air, Jack grabbed a hold of me and turned me out from under him, and we fell on our backs on the ground.

I felt my head bounce off his chest and land in the grass. If he didn't move me, he would have fallen on top of me. I diaphragm was spazzing as I attempted to breathe, but I couldn't. I could hear Jack groaning beside me from the same pain, and it took me a moment to realize that he protected me.

The bamboo pole came down at us, spearing the ground near Jack's head. Fruit tumbled down around us as we wheezed to catch our breath.

I finally got enough motivation to sit up and I rolled my aching wrists out to pop them back into place. I looked over at Jack, who was still looking up at the sky in pain.

I offered him my hand and he wheezed while holding one finger up melodramatically, "give me a moment, dear."

"The cannibals will be coming for us any second," I reminded him. I still felt like the wind was knocked out of me, but my lungs were not cramping anymore.

"I hit the ground hard and you expect me to make a miracle?"

"Come on," I groaned as I rolled onto my stomach and forced myself onto my knees. I stood up, which resulted in a quick head rush, but it passed fairly quickly.

I offered my hand again to get Jack to his feet and he said as he stood up, "that's enough action for today."

We heard a stick crack behind us, followed by some yelling. We looked back to see all the cannibals running after us with weapons in their hands and hunger on their faces.

"Time to go, time to go, time to go," he repeated rapidly, patting my shoulder ardently and running past me. I followed Jack, slightly behind him to avoid getting slapped in the face by his flailing arms.

We finally reached the beach, and we saw the crew was already back at the Pearl. Jack yelled, "hey! oi!"

Just behind us, were the cannibals yelling and carrying their spears, pursuing us. Jack's former worshippers were just a little upset with him. We were screaming as we ran down the beach, but I refused to look back. Every inch of my body was quivering with energy and I ran faster than I ever have in my life.

"Toss off those lines!" I heard Gibbs scream. The crew began shouting and running amuck, trying to get the Pearl back into the water.

"Make ready to cast off!" Marty yelled.

"Oi!" Jack shouted. We passed the dog, yelling at the natives and Jack said, "good doggy." He turned around and exclaimed when he saw how close they were getting. I still refused to look, but the fact that Jack started running faster told me that they were too close.

Jack and I ran and jumped through the water, desperately trying to reach the Pearl. When we were close enough, Jack grabbed the sides of my waist and hoisted me onto the rope rigging where I climbed faster than I ever have before, with him right behind me. I reached the deck and Jack was still below. My heart was pounding out of my chest and my adrenaline dwindled when I was finally safe on the ship.

I peered over the edge to see him call out to the cannibals who had stopped before the water, "alas, my children, this is the day you shall always remember as the day you almost..." and he was humorously interrupted by a big wave crashing into Jack from behind, making him disappear. He re-emerged from the wave, and I saw his lips move but I didn't hear what he said.

He climbed up and I saw the cannibals go running off down the beach, away from us.

Once Jack came aboard, Gibbs was furious. He said, "let's put some distance between us and this island and head out to open sea."

Ragetti and Pintel put Jack's jacket over his shoulders as he said, "yes to the first. Yes to the second, but only insofar as we keep to the shallows as much as possible."

Ragetti and Pintel were once members of Barbossa's crew, and Jack did not give them a second glance when they joined ours. Ragetti had a wooden eye that always popped out of its socket, and Pintel was shorter with long brown hair, but the top of his scalp was balding. I remembered Pintel aloofly, because he was the pirate that Barbossa shot when they were testing if the curse had broken, and it is hard to forget a pirate with a wooden eye. He dreams of being able to afford a glass one.

Gibbs frowned, "that seems a bit contradictory, Captain," grabbing a blanket and handing it to me to dry myself off. I wrapped it around my shoulders, wishing I could change out of my wet clothes. I rubbed at my cheeks, trying to get the markings that the cannibals painted on me off.

"I have every faith in your reconciliatory navigational skills, Mr. Gibbs. Now, where is that monkey? I want to shoot something." Jack said urgently.

The monkey screeched and dropped something in front of Jack. Ragetti went down to his knees and picked it up, spit on it, and placed it in his eye socket. I grimaced at the sight, I will never get used to that. Jack took out his pistol, ready to shoot the undead monkey that was climbing the rigging as Will approached him.

Will stepped forward, "Jack."

"Ah?"

I did not notice that he was on the ship, nor do I know how he got here. In fact, I had no idea how the crew escaped the cages they were placed in, or what happened to Leech and his men since they were missing from the deck. I assumed that I would be informed later, but now was not the time.

"Elizabeth is in danger."

Jack sauntered towards my stance by the taffrail as he continued to talk to Will, "have you considered keeping a more watchful eye on 'er? Maybe just lock her up somewhere?

"She is locked up in a prison, and bound to hang for helping you two," Will said bitterly, eyeing me and Jack.

"Elizabeth is in danger?" I asked.

Will nodded, "she has an appointment with the gallows."

I chuckled under my breath, "just the way I like her." I was only half-joking. We got closer while we were marooned last year, but I still don't like how she thinks she's knows everything. I'm thankful for the short time I was with her, but I'd be as content as a cucumber if I never saw her again.

"There comes a time when one must take responsibility for one's mistakes," Jack said as he walked up toward the helm. Will took a sword out from one of the crew members waistbands and pointed it at Jack's throat. I took a step back, too wet and cold and tired to want to be apart of whatever fight they were going to engage in. I sashayed to the other side of Gibbs, who was manning the wheel, and rested my elbows against the helm.

"I need that compass of yours, Jack," Will said, "I must trade it for her freedom."

Jack grabbed Will's wrist to get the blade away from himself, "Mr. Gibbs."

"Captain," Gibbs said.

Jack came up to us. "We need to travel upriver."

Gibbs asked, "by need, do you mean a trifling need? Fleeting? As in, say, a passing fancy?"

"No, a resolute and unyielding need," Jack said assertively.

"I think we should go to Saint Marc," I said, referring to the port in Hispaniola, "it's close—"

Jack turned to me and pointed his fingers up and enthusiastically said, "no."

"But it—"

Jack repeated childishly, "no. Upriver to Cuba."

"Jack," I said austerely. His eyes widened at my sudden change of tone and finally let me continue, "it will allow us to get our bearings before we go back out to the open ocean."

"See this—" Jack used his index finger to gesture to his face— "this is me I don't care face."

"I agree with her," Marty said, taking my side.

"Can I have a word with you, Jack?" I asked with a huff.

"I'd rather not..." he said.

"We need to at least navigate in the drop-out," I said, referring to leaving the shallows and sailing over the open ocean. Where we belong.

Jack looked at me with a puzzled expression, "drop-out?"

"Cap'n, I think she meant, "drop-off"," Gibbs said.

"That's what I said," I snapped.

"I don't care for your insolent tone," Jack barked.

"What would a woman know about how to care for the Pearl?" Gibbs asked me.

My eyes widened at his misogynist sentence and I barked back with, "what would you do if a pirate sailed towards you and told you, 'faire demi-tour ou abandonner votre navire', or, 'continua a navigare dritto e ti ritroverai circondato dagli squali,' or, 'sígueme y te mostraré mi tesoro'... what would you do?!"

The crew looked at me with a mixture of surprise and confusion at my hypothetical sentence that used a combination of four different languages and Gibbs piped up, "don't listen to her, Cap'n, she's just making up words."

"If Elizabeth is in danger of being executed for helping us, we are probably on their list as well. We have to outsmart them. If you're not willing to listen to me, Jack, then enjoy the gallows."

"I've been. Once you've taken in the view, there's really not much else to it," he said.

"I hope I never have to see if it's true," I said.

"My dear, it seems that we've found ourselves to be in bad bread," Jack was callous as he rebuffed my suggestion. "That talk like an apothecary leads me to believe that you lack heed of the circumstances of the past few hours."

"This one-sided misunderstanding of my ability to take heed has nothing to do with my willingness to protect not only myself, but the crew as well," I said.

"Could you be more exasperating?" Jack asked.

I blinked at him before I answered swiftly with as much attitude I could muster, "oui."

"Don't you patronize me, lass. We need to—" Jack began, but I interrupted him.

"Hard to starboard! We are making sail to Hispaniola!" I ordered, and the crew slowly began dispersing to fulfill my command. I began to walk off, away from Jack.

"Belay that!" Jack yelled which made me freeze and turn back to him with tight lips and narrow eyes. The crew looked between the two of us in confusion before coming to a halt, unaware of who to listen to. They waited for his command and he shouted, "do something else!"

"Jack, I don't think—"

"Then you shouldn't talk," he interrupted.

I clenched my jaw and exhaled roughly to keep myself from blowing my top.

"This the moment when you have a chance to do the right thing," I stated and took a step closer to him.

"I love those moments." Jack smiled. He pretended to wave at something in the sea as he walked up to the railing. "I like the wave at them as they pass by."

"I can't believe you're being so in...fer...ur..." I stomped my foot in frustration and asked everyone around me, "what is the word?"

"Selfish. Pigheaded," Will suggested.

"Really?" Jack snapped at him.

"Her words, not mine," Will defended.

"Do you know how frustrating it is to have to translate everything in my head before I say it? You should try talking in my shoes for one mile!"

"I think you meant—" Gibbs spoke up.

"I know what I meant to mean. Do you even know how smart I am in French?" I spat, "do not disregard me."

Jack gave me the silent treatment.

"Jack!"

"He heard you," Will said to me.

"He didn't heard nothing," I snapped.

Jack finally spoke up, "love, far be it for me to give advice to you. If I were me, and you were you, we each have the same lack of trust in the other, imagine you're me—you being me would propose that rather than you telling me, being you, where we are going upriver to Cuba... you'd lead me there instead. Where upon, you could serve up to me the voodoo of Tia Delma on a silver platter. And you being me, I'd like to accept such an offer if I were you. Savvy?"

It was difficult to keep up with what he was saying, but the word 'voodoo' kept replaying in my mind. I wasn't sure who Tia Delma was, and the theme of magic never seemed to subside. I raised an eyebrow and asked, "on a silver platter?"

"On a frilly linen napkin and a spicy banana on the side," Jack finished.

I huffed and bit my lip after I hissed scornfully, "fine. I trust you. Whatever you say, Capitaine."

It was pointed out to me recently that I bite my lip or the inside of my cheek when I lie. I never realize I do it until after my lie, and by then it's too late. Hopefully no one else notices.

Will interrupted, "what we need to do is make sail for Port Royal with all haste."

Jack looked up to the sky in vexation and said, "William, I shall trade you the compass if you will help us to find this—" he took out the cloth with the key drawn on it.

"You want me to find this?" Will asked after he looked at it momentarily.

"No," Jack said, "you want you to find this... because the finding of this finds you incapacitorially finding and/or locating in your discovering a way to save your dolly belle, ol' what's-her-face. Savvy?"

I crossed my arms in annoyance, constantly reminded of Jack's hard-headed stubbornness. I tended to give up when it came to arguing with Jack. Once, I thought an argument had gone my way when we were discussing the next port to visit, and he turned the ship around to favor for where he wanted to go as soon as I went below deck.

Will grabbed the cloth, "this is going to save Elizabeth?"

Jack asked in a low voice, "how much do you know about Davy Jones?"

"Not much," Will answered.

Jack went back to his normal voice and not convincingly said, "then yeah, it's going to save Elizabeth."

AN: if you were a pirate, where would you hide your treasure?
I would have to bury my treasure in abandoned islands so there is a low chance of it being found.