Sup guys, I know I'm not dead and I've been meaning to work on the old story, but I've noticed there were so many flaws in characters and especially the plot seeing as after a few chapters, I just started making up s**t as I went along. So now I decided that I needed to develop the plot much better and I also decided to cut and add some characters, and as for the ones before, I did keep them the same.

So... I guess enjoy. And all of what's here is mine, except any historical figures and references. It took me a while to really develop the plot so it was quite a pain in the butt to do so...

Anyways, I'll shut up. Enjoy!

I never chose this life. I didn't want this life, but I've learned to gradually accept it as a way of life. The young man sighed as he finished writing down his thought into his log book. It had been two days since he had joined the way of the Brethren. Two days since he had joined piracy. It was a way he had despised ever since he had willingly, in exchange for the freedom of a merchant crew he had served with, joined the crew of Edward Teach, better known as the pirate Blackbeard. On board the sloop Revenge, he endured savage punishment and a rough life at the hands of Blackbeard and some of the crew of the pirate ship. Harsh and cruel the captain was to him, up until the end. The merely 18 year old boy paused in his writing for a second after the mention of the flagship in his log, Queen Anne's Revenge. He remembered the day they had captured her...the day they refitted her and renamed her...and the night that she ran aground. For all of those events, he had been present. It was a stormy night and the small fleet Blackbeard had assembled for the blockade of Charleston sailed northward, bound for Ocracoke Island, a pirate haven in the New World colonies. all went well until a sudden storm swept over the fleet while near Topsail Inlet, now called Beaufort Inlet...

Thunder roared through the dark cloudy skies as the sea became roiling angry, heavy rain hailed down from the heavens and onto the deck of the Queen Anne's Revenge, her crew doing all they could against the raging waves to keep her from foundering in the hellish torrent. Lightning cracked through the skies as thunder followed, booming like a crescendo of a million cannons. The gusts of wind whipped and tore at the shrouds of sail that were desperately trying to be furled and tied by the crewmen up in the yards and rigging. The bow of the large ship plunged through the sea, as if trying to defy nature herself, though the ship and some of her crew wont be so lucky to go against the sea.

On the deck, a young man, around 17, could only try to keep his balance as Blackbeard had abandoned the Queen Anne, leaving her to basically perish, along with her crew. He brushed his long black hair from his eyes, squinting out ahead. The ship was plunging towards the embankment of the coast, and with the draft she had, she would run aground and sink. The man quickly turned around and ran up the stairs to the helm, as waves crashed onto the deck and nearly swept him away. He held on as the raging water washed some of the men overboard, their screams silenced as the waves roared and the thunder echoed through the skies. He quickly got back on his feet, running to the helm. Seeing no one was there, he got a hold of the ship's wheel, turning her hard to starboard. The bow of the great ship soon began to turn, even as her sails were torn to tatters. The rigging swayed as a wave crashed into the side, sending the young man to the deck and leaving the ship uncontrolled. He groaned as he got back on his feet, the wave knocked him to the side of the ship and into a cannon. He quickly got up and snatched a peg on the wheel, grabbing a hold and turning her again.

"Come on you son of a bitch!" he cursed as he turned the ship with all his strength, which was little due to the poor treatment he endured.

Slowly and surely, the ship began to turn again, bow crashing over a wave and plunging back down into the roiling sea. The crew that were still aboard kept at it with furling the sails, in hopes of riding out the storm. The young man at the helm seemed relieved, even in the midst of this raging storm, that the ship would survive and live to see another day. But his hopes were, unfortunately, short lived.

Suddenly, there came the loud crunching of timbers and a huge jolt that sent the boy, along with several crewmen into the raging sea, over the railing and crashing through the wooden grates of the cargo hold opening. He landed in waist deep water, which luckily broke his fall, but unfortunately began to rapidly fill the ship through a large gash in the keel. The ship had hit a sandbar and cracked several timbers, water immediately filling into the ship's hold. The Revenge was beginning to sink.

The young lad quickly sat up and looked around, seeing the water get higher as he heard the dying groans of the ship as she was sinking down into the sea. He quickly got onto the ladder leading to the top deck in an attempt to escape. He suddenly stopped as he heard the loud cracking of the mainmast. He looked up, the seawater stinging his eyes as he saw the blurred image of the mainmast, with the mainsail still unfurled, come crashing down over the cargo hold opening. "CHRIST!" he then let go as the mast nearly crushed him, falling back into the rising water. He emerged to the surface, not being able to touch the deck. He breathed quickly as he was frightened to death, knowing this may be the way he was to perish. Drowning while trapped inside the hull of a sinking ship. He took in a gasp of air, knowing it may be his last, and dove down to the gun ports, seeing that the cannons were bunched up along the port side, blocking most of the them. He then turned his attention to the starboard side, seeing the guns in place. He quickly swam up to one that seemed it would be a perfect fit. He reached down into his boot and pulled out a knife, originally used for protection but would now possibly be the only thing that might save his life, getting a hold of the ropes used to wheel out the cannon when ready to fire and to keep it in place when it recoiled. He hastily cut the ropes, which were the same used for the rigging, the thick ropes.

God, please help me now. He begged in his mind. Don't let me die a rat and go down with this damned vessel!

He sawed at the cord vigorously, looking up, he could see the wooden ceiling of the deck above. This was his only chance. His one chance to escape or die, trapped inside the bowels of the ship. Soon enough, giving him a glimmer of hope, the knife cut through the thick rope. The cannon then drifted to an odd angle, still held in place by one last rope. He then moved to the other rope, beginning to cut at the numerous strands which made it up. Bubbles escaped from his lips as he cursed under a breath, forgetting that he needed to conserve as much as he could. He felt a tightening in his chest as he kept cutting at the rope, which soon evolved to nothing but a chest pain. He soon began to slow down as he could vividly see an image. It was the image of a woman amidst a white light, black hair to her shoulders, wearing a casual dress and an apron. As he gazed upon the vision, the pain in his chest seemed to wane away

M-...M-Mom...?

The image soon cleared and it was his mother. Her warm brown eyes looked sadly upon her dear son, knowing he may be joining her soon in the afterlife. "Jason...my poor baby boy..." she said seeming sad for her son, seeing the predicament he was in.

Jason wanted nothing more than to live, but now that he was seeing the alleged white light with his mother in it, he wasn't for sure now. "Mom..." he said in bubbles.

"Jason...don't speak..." she said in a wispy, echoing voice. "You can't die like this...I know I've taught you better than to give up easily."

He couldn't speak as he was still in too much awe upon seeing his own mother, who had died when he was only fifteen. That painful event was the reason he joined a merchant crew bound for the Caribbean, the ship later being intercepted by Blackbeard's two ships.

"Get out...Get out before it's too late." her voice echoed to him.

He blinked, nodding as he was blinking away tears which dissolved into the seawater around him. I...I love you mom... he said as a thought.

She simply smiled at her son. "Don't fret, Jason...just survive and live..." she said as she and the white light disappeared.

Jason blinked, only to snap back to reality when the ship groaned, apparently hitting the bottom. He quickly returned to sawing the rope, the pain returning as it became unbearable. "Come on dammit!" he cursed more through bubbles pouring out of his mouth. Finally, with the great effort used into cutting, the rope finally snapped, letting the cannon fall loose and drift down to the other side, where it collided with the pile of several others. He dropped the knife and pushed the gun port lid open, allowing a view of the roiling sea above and the dark abyss out in front of him. He swam through and kicked his boot clad feet, clawing at the sea around him in an attempt to reach the surface, allowing him to regain the air he desired to breathe.

After what seemed like forever, he burst up from the depths and gasped, coughing as he looked behind him and saw the bow of the ship plunging down forward, the masts being the only things evident of a shipwreck ever occurring. He felt the rain fall upon his head as waves lapped at his face. He blinked away the stinging seawater and saw the lights of a town upon the land not far from where he was floating in the ocean. He immediately began to swim for the shoreline, the drive to survive coursing through his entire being. He was determined, not only to survive, but also live...

Jason sighed as he remembered narrowly escaping death and making a new life as an apprenticed gunsmith in the nearby town of Beaufort. He escaped the sentence of death when he claimed he was the prisoner aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, the rest of the crew testifying against him in his claim. But ultimately in the end, the crew prosecuted as pirates were hung at the gallows in town, leaving Jason to start his life again.

It wasn't until November later that year, 1718, he heard that Blackbeard had been killed in battle, his head displayed as a trophy on the bowsprit of the ship. Upon hearing the end of Blackbeard, he returned to the beach where he had crawled upon the sands after swimming a mile back to shore, looking out to where he saw two stumps, which were all that remained of the mizzen and main masts of the Queen Anne. On board the Revenge, before she ran aground, he was apprenticed by Blackbeard in the study of black magic, despite him being Catholic. He learned many spells and charms from the pirate captain himself...including one that would come in handy for the situation he was in. He had been taught the spell on how to revive and restore.

On the beach, Jason sighed as he looked out to the wrecked vessel. He raised his hands, muttering in a different language. It was a language not heard by human ears since the time of Alexander the Great. He put full concentration into using all the power into raising the hulk of the ship. As he drew a shaky breath, he raised his other as he concentrated harder.

At the sandy bottom of the inlet, there was the sudden sound of groaning wood. The bottom, which had become the grave of the wrecked ship, soon clouded out around the keel, making the water around murky. Slowly but surely, the hull of the sunken ship began to raise off the ocean floor, gradually rising back to the surface to the light of day. Today was her resurrection, her return to the world above. She groaned loudly as she emerged in a misty spray.

Jason could hear the groaning and creaking of her broken timbers. He looked up and slowly lowered his hands as he could see the for and mizzen grow taller, eventually seeing the hull of the old ship rise up from the depths. The bow emerged first as it plowed back down into the shallow sea, the stern rising next. The water poured out heavily from the gun ports and ran off the deck as she settled and righted herself. The figurehead of a woman dressed in a white robe was partially covered with algae and seaweed, her outstretched arm, which looked as if it was supporting the bowsprit of the ship, had tatters of seaweed hanging from her arm. Jason could only watch in awe as he was now witness to the return of the flagship so many had feared. The Queen Anne's Revenge had returned from the grave.

Jason finished the log entry after the mention of refitting and recruitment of a new crew during the spring and summer, setting the quill he used in the inkwell and closing his black leather bound log book. The candle on his mahogany desk flickered, lighting his eyes to glints of brown. He leaned over and blew out the candle with a gentle breath, the flame vanishing, leaving the smoking wick as a wispy trail of smoke ascended before dissipating. He got up and got his brown coat, walking over to the doors of the cabin where he slept, opening them and stepping outside onto the deck.

There was a cool salty breeze blowing across the deck of the ship, causing Jason's now shoulder length hair to wave in the wind. To fix it, he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a red ribbon, grabbing a gentle hold of his hair and pulling it back, tying the ribbon into a small bow, resulting with a ponytail with a few bangs in his face. After finishing with his hair, he looked up to see the brilliant white sails filled with the wind. Atop the main mast was a black flag flying in the wind, and in the center was a depiction of a horned skeleton, white as bone, wielding a cutlass in one hand and a dart piercing a bleeding heart with the other. Next to the grisly image was a white hourglass with blue wings, a symbol of time before all hell would be unleased. It was his new flag. One Jason had designed and made in secret during his stay in Beaufort. He sighed as he watched the flag fly with the wind, eventually returning to his journey up the stairs to the helm. with each step he took, his brown boots thudded lightly.

Up at the wheel, he saw his new helmsman, a brawny French man with a bushy mustache on his lip. The tall man was dressed in a grey cotton vest and a short sleeved white shirt with a lace up collar. He heard Jason walk up the steps. "Mon capitaine, you should be resting." he said in a deep voice.

Jason took his at Jacques' side, sighing and crossing his arms as he looked out to the bow of the ship, watching as she sliced through the placid night. "I can't sleep Jacques..." he said as he stared out.

Jacques looked to him again, having a sense that something was bothering his young commander. "Something bothering you sir?" he asked.

Jason looked to Jacques and then back out ahead, thinking. "I don't know...I don't know if doing this was the right thing..."

"Well what do you mean, Ja-"

"Raising the Revenge, resorting to this life, knowing we'll all be branded pirates for the rest of our lives...All thanks to pa and..I don't even know why I refer to that bastard as my own father." he said in spite, referring to the now deceased pirate Blackbeard.

"Capitaine..." Jacques said, laying a hand on Jason's shoulder. "Don't dwell on the past. Look forward to the future."

Jason looked to Jacques. "That is we'll have a future...all of us..." he said, referring to the possibility of capture and hanging.

Jacques was silent, he himself feared the same fate of men who sailed under piracy, except in France, it was the use of the guillotine.

Jason looked down. "Jacques...go on and go to bed." Jason said. "I'll take over for a few hours."

Jacques sighed a bit. "Oui, Capitaine." he said as he left Jason to the wheel. Jason watched as the tall French man walked down the steps onto the main deck and down below to the crews quarters. He sighed as he leaned on the wheel, looking down and thinking that only a few months ago, he was at the helm of this very ship, trying to save her from the storm that claimed her. He ran a hand on the smooth wood and up one of the handles. "Well...Looks like this'll be an interesting journey for me..." he said as he grabbed a hold of one of the eight handles, looking out to the sea.

He had begun to accept his new lifestyle. A new journey opening up for him. The beginning of the son of Blackbeard.

The beginning of a pirate's life...

Well that's the end for the first bit. I intend to upload the next real soon but be patient. And if y'all want to leave a comment, feel free to, if not, then it's no trouble.