A/N: and again, I veer from harry potter! welcome to my first movie fanfic! yay POTC!! it is a Jack's son/Will's daughter fic but...yeah. no flames saying this has been done. I just want a turn on the plot merry-go-round
so here we go...and I might be changing my penname soon, so don't spaz if this is suddenly written by someone new
Disclaimer: I own the kids. Nothing else. let's leave it at that.
o.O
Chapter 1: Daughter of a Eunuch, Son of a Pirate
Christina Turner sat motionlessly in a rigid wooden chair, a needlepoint hoop sitting serenely on her lap. This, coupled with her modest yet fashionable red dress, painted the perfect picture of a proper 18th century lady. However, a closer look would prove otherwise.
With a surreptitious glance over her shoulder, Christina quickly scooted her chair an inch closer to the window. Her mother was not oblivious; Elizabeth Swann, now Elizabeth Turner, turned from the stove to check on her only daughter. Thankfully, Christina had managed to pick up her sampler and was stitching away innocently. Letting a motherly smile escape, Elizabeth turned back to her own work.
Christina let out a small sigh; she had gotten away with it again. For the past half-hour, she had been trying to move her seat so that she could stare out the window: a much better past time than stitching in her book. Perhaps that was why she was nearly 17 and her sampler was in a shambles. She exhaled again, watching a loose strand of her dark hair fly in her breath. Smiling, she blew again and again, making the lock dance.
"Christina Pearl!" her mother called her down. The named winced and turned, smiling innocently. "How many times must I beg you to work on your needlepoint?"
"Sorry, Mother, but can't I go outside? It's so pleasant and Father's been at the docks all day. The animals haven't been tended to yet," Christina begged, trying her hardest not to whine. Elizabeth sighed.
"Let me see your work." She extended a hand. Christina held out the cloth. Elizabeth clucked her tongue. "At this rate, you'll be stitching on your death bed. You'll never get –– "
"I know," Christina interrupted. "I'll never get a husband if I can't sew. But I can cook, bake, launder, care for animals and children, and all the other skills men look for. And I can sew, Mother. But the animals ––!"
"Fine." Elizabeth gave up, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation. A smile of amusement did escape. "Go fritter your life away on men's chores. But don't come crying to me when you're an old maid, forced to spin your life away and dream."
"Thank you, Mother!" Christina kissed her mother and practically skipped out into the sunshine.
"Actually, go pick your father up from the docks!" Elizabeth shouted after. "The Delius should be in by now."
"Yes, Mother," she called back as she inhaled deeply, feeling her corset protest sharply. She hated being indoors; she would never admit it to her mother, but sometimes she wondered what it would be like to be free, like the pirates in her father's stories.
She and her family were well known in town, her father, Will Turner, being one of the best blacksmiths and a respected master of his own ship. His seemed to be the only vessel that didn't run afoul of pirates; her father always said it was because of his and her mother's friendship with the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow. The pirate captain and his ghostly ship had fascinated Christina from a young age and they still did. She longed to escape the grasps of womanhood and spend even a day aboard the Black Pearl.
o.O
Ten minutes later, Christina pulled up in her grandfather's carriage, one of her grandfather's servants driving; no matter how much she had bribed the man, he would not let her take the reins. And so, it was slightly disillusioned that she stepped out of the carriage onto the docks.
She admired the romantic, chaotic scene the Port Royal docks painted. Men shouted to one another as ropes and crates flew threw the air, often accompanied by a man. Ships were docked every few feet with more people milling on, in, and around them. Salt stinged the nostrils and seagull calls danced in the ears as Christina searched the men's faces for her father's own.
Suddenly, her view went black; out of habit, her hands flew up, caught the wrists of the incriminating hands, and twirled around, rendering the culprit with out the use of his hands. Her face changed from one of anger and alarm to ecstasy in a matter of seconds as she nearly attacked the man who had placed his hands over her eyes.
"Alex!" she squealed, quite unlike herself. Alex Nusbalm was one of the hands on her father's ship and a longtime family friend. He laughed, his eyes dancing as Christina pulled back from her hug. "Goodness, what are you doing here? I thought you were staying in England this time."
"No, your father convinced me not to. He offered me the position of his second mate!" Alex announced happily. Christina laughed merrily and hugged him again in congratulations. "Besides, I could I ask you the same thing. Isn't it usually frowned upon for a pretty unmarried girl like you to be unescorted on the docks? Too many hungry men to be leering at you."
Christina rolled her eyes. "I was looking for my father. Do you know where he is?"
Alex nodded. "I'll take you to him." He began walking briskly across the wooden floor of the docks. Christina trotted behind, her dress swishing at her feet. She counted the boats absently until a very familiar one graced her view: the Delius.
"Christina?" her father's voice called from the deck. He was with two important-looking men and was going though a stack of papers. However, upon seeing his daughter, he leapt onto the rigging and jumped soundly down beside Christina and Alex. "Darling, what are you doing here?"
"Mother wanted me to surprise you. Grandfather's carriage is waiting," Christina answered. Will's eyes glinted.
"Would your mother agree with that statement?" he asked knowingly. Both he and Alex watched eagerly for the response.
Christina squirmed slightly and glanced to her left. "Maybe not word for word…but she did ask me to pick you up and Grandfather's carriage is waiting just up the road," she pointed.
"Ah, I see you actually let the driver do his job," her father teased. Christina smiled grimly.
"Well, after the trouble I got in last time…" Christina trailed. Will laughed heartily.
"Alex, will you go oversee the last load? I'd better escort Miss Turner home so that she avoids any further trouble." He smiled endearingly at his only daughter. Alex nodded and, with a fleeting goodbye, leapt atop a swinging load of cargo and dropped back onto the Delius. Her father watched him go.
"Before I forget and before we get home, I was told to give you this." Will turned back to Christina and pulled out a handsome pair of daggers. The blades were polished so that the silver glinted in the afternoon sun. The hilt was set with tiny garnets, emeralds, and diamonds, all intertwined in intricate gold vines that twisted the length of the hilt. "The docks are dangerous. If you are to be frequenting them as often as you have lately, you might as well be able to protect yourself."
Christina gripped the handle; it looked somewhat strange in her small hand. She tossed it expertly and it landed with a dull thunk in a post. Will did not have a son. Therefore, as Christina had always been naturally curious, he had taught what had been classified as men's skills: driving horses, caring for animals, and quite a bit of swordfighting.
Her father smiled. "Almost as good as me when I was your age. You're getting better. Now fetch that and hide them. We don't want your mother thinking I'm a bad influence, now do we?" He winked. Christina smiled and tugged the blade out of the wood. One she banded to her right ankle and the other she hid up her left sleeve. She tripped after her father and they headed to the carriage.
o.O
"So who gave you the daggers?" Christina asked once they were inside and on the road.
Will was silent. "Captain Sparrow," he said simply.
Christina's eyes immediately lit; her attention could still be whetted by the pirate's name. "Did he really, Father? Or are you just teasing?" she asked.
"Which do you think?" Her father grinned. Christina considered; either this was true or her father had invented another story on his long voyage. Either way, she was always an eager ear for pirate tales.
"What happened?" she asked breathlessly.
"You know that the Delius is relatively new," Will started. Christina nodded; he had only gotten it a few months ago. "Well, it was about the third week into the voyage and we had already made our first shipment so you can imagine how much goods we had onboard. And, it just so happens that it is in the nature of pirates to sometimes hang around popular ports and see who are the big traders. Lo and behold, land hadn't disappeared but an hour before a massive ship with black sails came soaring up, as if winged, the Jolly Roger proudly flapping in the wind."
"The Black Pearl," she breathed, already into the story.
"Yes. Anyway, my crew was panicking, as all crews do when the Pearl came up on their hull. But I and Alex, whom I have also told the stories to, were pictures of serenity. I ordered Alex to immediately fly the white flag and ordered all the crew to their barracks. I waited for Jack to board and his did so in all his staggering, inebriated glory. He took on look at me and just muttered, 'Bugger'."
Christina smiled wide. She loved when her father would imitate the captain.
"'Nice ship, mate,' he said after that. I nodded. 'Where's yer crew?' he asked. 'Down below, scared out of their wits,' I answered. Jack flashed a dirty, toothy grin. 'Glad to see the Pearl still strikes fear in men's hearts,' he said. 'But apparently not women,' I said. He asked me to explain and I told him about you, about how you were the perfect picture of a lady, but wielded a mean blade…'clone of Elizabeth, eh?' he commented at that…"
Christina smiled again.
"…then he ordered a young man at his side to go fetch something off the Pearl. The boy came back with an ebony wood box with those daggers inside. 'Give your daughter these. I'm sure she can find more use for them than I. I was never adept at throwing. Perhaps we'll meet and she can teach me.'"
"Oh, Father, could I? Could I go on one of your travels and meet Captain Jack?" Christina begged.
"Absolutely not," Will was suddenly stern. "It is one thing for you to be sneaking around the ports here but another entirely for you to be on a ship with all men and go off gallivanting with pirates!"
"You sound like Grandfather," Christina pouted. "What's the point in teaching me swords and daggers if I never get to use them?"
"Sometimes Grandfather is right," her father said. "And the point of learning swordsmanship was to protect you and your mother when I'm not around, not for you to run off with me and chase after pirates. I need you here."
Christina frowned and looked out the carriage window, her finger stroking the blade of her new dagger. She wanted to go meet Jack.
o.O
Tristan Sparrow scaled the riggings of the Black Pearl, watching the Delius meld with the horizon. The ship changed direction sharply, causing the teen to almost go plummeting into the murky blue-grey depths of the ocean. Much, as the illustrious Will Turner had claimed, like the fabled Christina Turner's eyes.
"Tristan!" Jack called from deck. "Quit dallying and secure those sails. I want to get to Rocky Port to intercept their latest shipment of rum. We're running low!"
Tristan smiled and obeyed his father. Like a cat, he ascended further into the heavy rainclouds that were the Pearl's sails. As he retied knots, he reflected on the Turners.
From a young age, Jack Sparrow had told him stories about the Pearl and his adventures with the mutinous Barbossa and fabled Davy Jones. Always, Will Turner and his love Elizabeth Swann had played key parts in these retellings. Finally, after years of curiosity, he had met the real Will Turner when his father accidentally tried to raid his ship. Turner had added a new twist to the stories; Will and Elizabeth had wed and now had a nearly 17-year-old daughter named Christina Pearl.
Apparently, she was the epitome of an Elizabeth-Turner child: she had her mother's beauty and status of a lady as well as her father's talent with a blade. Being nearly 18 himself and a long-time fan of the stories his father had told, this new character had intrigued him greatly, but he could not bring himself to ask questions. Now Will was gone with a gift for his daughter in tow, and question after question buzzed in his mind.
"Tristan! What colors does yonder ship fly? I'll not have you make another blundering mistake like you did with the Delius!" Jack yelled up at him.
"British and its armed and milling with soldiers!" Tristan called back
"Lower the Roger! Quickly, gents!" Jack ordered. The crew jumped at his bark, the skull flying down on its wire. Tristan watched his father in awe. Sometimes it caught up to him just how many men found his cunning and twisted thinking as brilliance; they were perfectly at ease to carry out his every whim. It shocked him how devoted they were to him and someday, to him.
No matter how many people said it, Tristan didn't see his father in himself in the least. Jack could talk to anyone and get him or her to do what he wanted; Tristan was unconfident at best. Jack got out of every predicament, no matter the risk; Tristan never had the guts to do anything that wasn't sure. And Jack seemed flawless; Tristan had been the one that had spotted Will's ship and deemed it worthy of pillaging. No matter how many people tried to reassure him that he would follow in his father's footsteps, there was always a large part of him that disagreed.
When Will spoke of his daughter, Tristan had been shocked to hear her described. He had spent time in countless towns and all the ladies he met were soft-spoken and seemingly fragile. Never had he heard of one so ladylike yet could hold her own in a fair fight. He had looked at his father; Jack's eyes were so bright, Tristan fancied his father was considering Will's daughter as the prodigy child he never had. And when Jack had given the daggers, Tristan could almost see the gears turning in his mind.
Tristan sat low in the nest as the Pearl floated serenely past the British ship. Thankfully, the sails and flag had been lowered before the other captain had intercepted them. The pirate crew waved innocently at the oncoming ship, who hesitantly returned the gesture. Tristan watched them go and sighed.
"What's ailing ye, boy?" Jack asked, popping up beside Tristan, making the latter jump.
"God, Pop!" Tristan seethed, trying to get his heart back to normal.
"Are we past yet?" Jack hissed. Tristan raised himself but barely to check their passing.
"Nearly," Tristan said, settling back. Jack watched him.
"You never answered my question," he said.
"Eh?" Tristan said. "Ah…nothing."
"That's a whole lot of something that you're calling nothing," Jack stated. "You aren't still beating yourself up about Will and the Delius, are ye?"
Yes. "No," Tristan fibbed.
"Cuz even I didn't know he got a new ship. His blacksmithing and trade must have really taken off," Jack mulled. "Either that or that Christy managed to steal one with her supposed blade skills, eh?" Tristan smiled grimly. "Hmm…well, I think it's safe for me to get back to deck. Don't kill yourself and hey, maybe Christy isn't as great as her father says. Or she might not exist. Will was a eunuch, after all."
Jack shimmied down the rigging. Tristan watched him go, then stood himself and peered out at the blue-grey sea.
Christina. Her name is Christina, daughter of a eunuch, he thought. The oddities continue to mount.
o.O
A/N: love it? hate it (hope not!)? drop me a review please and let me know if you want this story continued!! Or else it will sink to Davy Jones' locker of lost stories!! (eery music)