Disclaimer: I do not own anything of POTC. But Isabelle is my character and other characters that I make up along the way are completely my own.

Author's Note: Wow, been a while since I've posted something on here. Hope you enjoy this new story. Just something that randomly popped into my head and hopefully will turn into something good. So please R&R and I will try to update this as soon as I can.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 1

"Come back here you thief!" shouted the shop owner.

Isabelle ran as fast as she could, knowing her life depended on it. She wasn't about to stop now, especially since the stolen item was to be her dinner, which was only a loaf of bread, but it was better than nothing. And nothing was what she usually had to settle with in those days.

She could hear the angry shop owner running after her, occasionally hearing him curse at her and threaten to have her taken to the gallows, where all the thieves and criminals were sent. I guess she would consider herself a criminal, since she had been stealing from various market places for years now, ever since her parents abandoned her. But it was the only way for her to survive, or at least the only way she knew how.

Isabelle looked behind her, seeing if she lost track of the shop owner. Well unfortunately, it wasn't the shop owner anymore, it was soldiers. Soldier's of the new commodore no doubt. There was at least three or four of them at the most, and they were gaining on her. She ran even faster now, gasping desperately for breath. She kept looking back to see how close they were, and it seemed that every time she looked they were getting closer and closer. She wanted to stop to catch her breath, but she didn't want to give up, she wanted to keep going. She cut through an ally way, hoping to throw the soldiers off, but her plan failed.

As she saw that she was reaching the harbor, she ran faster, trying to hide behind boats and groups of people who were gathering on the docks. Even though that threw off the soldiers for a little while, they still managed to catch up with her, and when they did she was standing at the edge of the dock. Isabelle figured that the water was better than the gallows, but still was a little hesitant to jump in, since the water was very cold that time of year. But when she finally made up her mind, she jumped in and swam as fast as she could.

When the soldiers reached the edge of the dock, they didn't dare risk the cold water, and instead started firing their guns, hoping to kill, or at least wound Isabelle, who was a criminal in their eyes.

Isabelle still kept swimming, no matter how tired she was. She knew she was trapped, but she still kept swimming, refusing to give up. Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain in her shoulder and realized that one of the bullets that was fired by the soldiers had hit her. She still tried to swim, but with every stroke she took, the pain seared throughout her arm and the pain was almost unbearable. She knew they had won, and she knew it was time to give up. She started to swim back to the dock on which the soldiers stood. She tried to get as close as she could, but she was very weak by that point and started to sink into the water, no matter how much she tried to stay afloat.

By this point the soldiers realized she had surrendered, and tried to reach for her hand. Finally she came close enough for one of the soldiers to grab her arm and pull her on to the dock. Unfortunately, the soldier that grabbed her grabbed her by her wounded arm which was excruciatingly painful, and she tried very hard to hold in the pain.

The soldiers had ignored her wound, and took her to the jail where the prisoners there awaited to be sent to the gallows. Isabelle was not very aware of what was going on, and passed out in the arms of the soldiers. They carried her and placed her in one of the cells, happy to get rid of her.

After Isabelle had finally awoken, she realized where she was. "Well," she thought to herself, "I guess I was bound to end up here someday." She knew it was true. She had run the risk many times before of being sent to this prison, but always managed to escape. But it had not been the case this time. And she could not think of any way to get out of this situation, and she had this horrible feeling that this was going to be the end.