A/N: This is a story written for a backstory challenge over at LiveJournal, inspired by two prompts: A wolf in sheep's clothing – Jack meets Hector Barbossa & Selling his soul – Jack strikes a deal with Davy Jones. The story is set two years after AWE and it will be (hopefully ^^) a three-shot (needless to say, it was supposed to be a one-shot lol). As usual, the after-the-credits scene is being conveniently ignored :)

Summary: Risky alliances have to be formed, and ghosts of the past must be confronted on the quest for the Black Pearl and immortality. But this time, Jack might not be telling the truth...

Disclaimer: PotC belong to Disney.

Immolation

Chapter 1

"'Lizbeth!..."

A swish of her coat and she was gone; out of the door in three seconds. Or one.

Jack twitched his nose, and rose to his feet. "Will be right back," he muttered, glancing at the darkly amused faces around him.

"I have no time for waiting," said the man sitting across from Jack at the table, the handle of his sword glimmering in the tavern's dim light.

"Perhaps-" started Gibbs cautiously, but was cut off by another man drawing out his pistol.

A dark-haired woman next to him giggled, and jauntily adjusted her hat.

Jack squinted, and leaned over the table. "Unfortunately, when we find ourselves in the situation when waiting is unavoidable, we can't avoid finding time for it."

Gibbs reached for his rum hoping that he would manage to take his last sip before being killed by somebody from Olivier Armacanto's infamous crew.

Choosing not to interpret the look on the man's gruesome face, Jack drew back, and cleared his throat. "As I said, I will be right back."

It was dusk already, and the sea looked dark and distant under the greying sky. He noticed her march across the beach, and quickly caught up with her, muttering under his breath about bloody sand and bloody Lizzie.

Bloody Lizzie, he smirked to himself, making a mental note of the phrase.

"You do know this is nowhere near a good idea-" he started in what he hoped to be a very resolute tone of voice, subconsciously marveling at how their lives got tangled together in such a way that he actually had the right to grab her arm and turn her around to face him.

"Were you planning on telling me about this when we would already be aboard their ship?" she asked, glaring daggers at him, and yet he could not help noticing a few strands of her hair that escaped from under his hat which she was wearing, forming a curly lock over her cheek... He tightened his grip on her arm and pulled her closer.

"I didn't and I still don't think there was or is anything to tell," said Jack with forced patience.

"Oh!" Elizabeth widened her eyes at him. "So you weren't planning on telling me about this at all!" She looked so unexpectedly furious, that for a moment Jack thought she was going to hit him. But instead she just snatched herself free, and turned around with a groan.

He stared at her back in bafflement for a while, but then his face brightened.

"You're jealous," he said almost cheerfully.

"Jealous?!" Elizabeth swirled around, kicking the sand with her boot.

She was stiff from anger and cool wind, and when he pulled her into his arms she trembled, and he was once again caught off guard by how soft and sweet her lips felt against his.

"Lizzie-darling-"

"Be quiet, Jack," she whispered, and continued kissing him, every movement of her lips slower than the previous one, and he felt his heartbeat quicken respectively.

She draped her arms around his neck and his embrace around her tightened. Even after two years they still treated each kiss like a miniature treasure, and he had stopped teasing her about 'expecting an aftermath' a year ago already.

"We should go back, or they will start considering leaving without us, taking Gibbs with them as a prospective dish, should they run out of supplies," said Jack in a low voice, smirking.

Elizabeth snorted under her breath, kissed his lips, the tip of his nose, and his chin. He smiled, and she smiled back, but then her smile faltered. "Do we really need them?"

"They have a ship, luv," said Jack, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

Elizabeth sighed. "There are many people who have ships," she countered dryly.

"Aye. There is a certain person that comes to mind," retorted Jack with a wry smile.

"Jack." She rested her forehead against his. "We will recover the Pearl."

He nodded absently with a half-hearted smile, and glanced away.

"In the meantime," she kissed him to draw his attention back to her. "We have the map. Why can't we find somebody else? If we even need anybody at all. This hardly seems to be the best course of action, striking deals with the man with such reputation and-" she trailed off, and added quickly in a sharper tone, "some former lovers. Can't we just commandeer a ship?"

Jack smiled, cupped the side of her face and brushed his thumb over her lips. "You're the only lover I've ever had, Lizzie."

"Of course," Elizabeth smiled sourly. "She is an acquaintance of yours, then. That's why-"

"As a matter of fact she is an... acquaintance of Hector Barbossa, and that is why this is the best course of action," he added in a low voice, pressing his lips to her cheek.

"Did she betray him for you, or you for him?" asked Elizabeth cautiously, biting her lip.

Jack snorted under his breath. "There are no betrayals among acquaintances. But if you're asking if his list of grudges might include matters unrelated to the Black Pearl then the answer is aye."

"I knew it," said Elizabeth somberly.

"Lizzie," he propped her chin with his finger, half-amused, half-pleased, although he was determined not to show the latter. "At least I'm not married," he said without thinking, with a faint lop-sided grin, and Elizabeth stared at him for a moment, and then abruptly turned around, but he caught her before she managed to move. "I'm sorry," he said dismissively burying his face in her hair. "That was... that was not what I meant."

"I think it was," answered Elizabeth distantly.

"Was not."

He turned her around, but she kept looking past him, at the sea.

"You seem regretful," he said warily, and she darted her eyes to him.

"Regretful?" Her eyes roamed around his face, and she recalled the first time they stood that close to each other – in Port Royal; and then when they were that close again, when he had come to her, tired and restless, embittered by the loss of the Pearl, mischievously hopeful because of the map that was still in his possession. They had sat on the beach throughout the night, and she did not remember who had made the first gesture, but at some point she had noticed they were holding each other's hands. He had not smiled, and she had not cried; they had looked at each other; and then he had doused the past with his hand on her face. She had leaned into his touch, and it was there – everything at once, tears and stars, and he had kissed her so much- "If there is one thing I regret..." She inched her face closer to his.

"Jack!"

Gibbs stopped in front of them, trying to catch his breath. "They- they're leaving."

"Leaving?" exclaimed Jack, wrinkling his forehead, while Elizabeth bit her lip, half-worried, half-relieved.

"Aye," nodded Gibbs with a grimace. "Mighty angry too. They said we've a quarter of an hour to come aboard, and if not-"

"What are we waiting for, then?" Jack tugged on Elizabeth's hand, and pulled her with him. She pursed her lips, and dug her nails into his palm out of pure annoyance.

He hissed and glanced at her over his shoulder, but she would not meet his gaze.

Gibbs looked between them and then looked away, biting back a smile. "Do we really need them?" he asked after a pause.

"I just asked the very same question!" cut in Elizabeth triumphantly, quickening her steps.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Do you both consider, at least remotely, the possibility of me actually having a plan?" he asked with a hint of irritation in his voice.

"No," retorted Elizabeth immediately, and Gibbs started to cough, desperate not to chuckle.

Jack squinted at them both. "Uplifting. Very," he muttered with a frown.

"I only think that it wouldn't hurt if we could find a more... amiable company," observed Gibbs cautiously.

"Oh, the company is extremely amiable," said Elizabeth sardonically, before Jack had a chance to answer.

To Gibbs' amusement, Jack drew Elizabeth closer and said matter-of-factly: "My Lizzie is jealous, Mr. Gibbs. Do not mind her comments," he kissed her cheek and smiled.

Elizabeth shifted her eyes to him, huffing in annoyance. "I'm not 'your Lizzie'!"

Jack draped his arm around her waist, and pressed his lips to her ear, Gibbs' presence the only thing that kept Elizabeth from actually doing him some bodily damage after the remark that followed: "I vividly recall you panting that you are, luv."

"It's just another copy of the map you already have." The woman's slender finger followed the inscription on the map. "Why bother taking them along?"

Olivier Armacanto leaned back in his chair and smiled. "The question is, why do they want to come along if they have a map," he said in a low voice, slowly folding the yellowed piece of parchment.

"Jack lost his ship. Again," the woman slid off the desk, and walked across the cabin toward the table.

"And my ship is his only hope. I'm flattered." The captain stood up, and shoved the map into one of the drawers.

"Do you think he's not telling the truth?" Verde reached out and outlined the rim of the bowl with her forefinger.

"Truth." Armacanto barked a laugh. "A fine legend on its own. I hope to meet its inventor in the afterlife."

Verde took one of the apples from the bowl and swiftly turned around. "No afterlife, if there really is a Fountain of Youth," she said with a smile, watching him cross the cabin with a pensive expression on his face.

"What a bright assumption indeed," he said slowly, his eyes fixed on the window.

Verde squinted, and took a few brisk steps toward him. "A wrong assumption?"

Armacanto smiled enigmatically. "I do wonder what makes people think that Fountain of Youth gives anything," he paused, and turned to look at her. "What if... it actually takes everything away?"