In the Hands of Fate II: Dead Man's Chest

Chapter Eight

"So that's the Flying Dutchman?" Will asked as we gazed out over to the shipwreck. "She doesn't look like much."

"Neither do you," came Jack's snide remark. "Do not underestimate her."

He elbowed Gibbs in the stomach.

"Must have run afoul of the reef."

I snorted. Yeah, that's what happened. Just like that puny little ship over there is the Dutchman.

"So, what's your plan, then?" I asked playing along. As soon as Will was out of range, I was going to lay one on Jack.

"I row over, search the ship until I find Jack's bloody key," answered Will.

"And if there are crewmen?" I wondered.

"I cut down anyone in my path." He walked away with Gibbs.

"I like it," Jack tells me. "Simple, easy to remember."

"Your chariot awaits, sire!" Ragetti called.

"Oi!" Jack called as Will climbed down to the row boat. "If you happen to get captured, just say Jack Sparrow sent you to settle his debt. It might save your life."

"Yeah," I mumble, "or get him killed."

"Douse the lamps," Jack ordered of Gibbs. The crew willingly obliged. "What was that, sweetheart?"

"You sent him to his death, you know that right?"

"He went willingly, as I recall."

I glared at him and grabbed his wrist as he walked away. "Under false pretenses. You haven't changed a bit have you Jack?"

"Not in the last four months, no."

"I want to say I can't believe this, but for some reason I can."

"Good." He pulled his wrist out of my grasp and stalked off.

"Jack Sparrow, you are a rotten man!" I called to him. I looked to the shipwreck just as the true Dutchman reached the surface.

Now all I could do was watch as fate had her hand.

Sati-Sara…. My grandmother's voice beckoned.

That's right, I'm fate… er, at least, Tia Dalma said I was.

I spun the two rings on my fingers. The one, the oldest, a silver ring featuring a pale blue gem and six white pearls, I received from Jack the eve of my fifteenth birthday.

The other, the newest, the engagement ring I received from Beckett, was the heaviest. It was by far too splendid to rest upon my decidedly dirtied, suntanned hand. The thin gold band held a comically large diamond, both stuck out horribly.

Two very different futures represented by two very different rings.

On one hand, quite literally, was a life with the family that I'd never known, a marriage to a wealthy and powerful man, and a safe haven from the curse. But if I chose this I would lose my best friend. Never again would he trust me. Never again would I have what we had now. Or, rather, what we had before. I'd be stuck in some pompous house with nothing to do but sit around eating crumpets and drinking tea while listening to some pompous woman's story. I would never be allowed to sail again.

And on the other, was a more adventurous, more likable future. Here was a chance to have my best friend back, and if I played my cards right, a marriage. A chance to break the curse. Here I could sail the world free forever. Life would soon return to what it once was. But then my family would be hung, even four-year-old Saraphina. It wouldn't be the same; I wouldn't be the same, knowing that I was the reason for that little girl's death.