Authors Note: Yeah, the title sucks, but I couldn't think of anything. This is a now very AU fanfic that has its origins not long after the first movie. How everybody survived will be explained in later chapters. For now, just comment and tell me what you think.
Disclaimer: I don't own POTC. That honor goes to Disney.
Katie's Journey- Chapter 1
It all started on my twelfth birthday. Up until that point I had had your perfectly average pirate childhood, which is to say not average at all. As soon as I could walk, I had learned to wield a sword (quite effectively, I might add). By the time I was five, I had sailed around the globe. When I was nine, my brother and I fought off a group of officers of the East India Trading Company, thus becoming the youngest people ever to be placed on the Company's most wanted list. I don't think our parents have ever been more proud. So even though my childhood had been anything but average, my twelfth birthday started out as a pretty normal day. I had gone down to the beach with my brother Jack and our "cousins" Liam and Tortuga Sparrow. In reality, Liam and Tortuga are not related to me and Jack, but they might as well be. The four of us had been raised together, and Tortuga and I had been best friends since before either of us could remember. Their father is the legendary pirate, Capt. Jack Sparrow, who needs know introduction, I am sure. His deeds are known the world over. After all, he's Captain Jack Sparrow.
So anyway, there the four of us were, just wasting time, swimming and skipping rocks. What better way to spend a birthday than doing nothing with your friends? I dove underwater, and the ribbon that had half-heartedly held my long dark curls out of my face slipped away, leaving a sopping mass of flattened curls plastered to my face.
"Oh no! It's the dreaded frizz beast of….Oh wait, it's just Katie," Liam said, and began to laugh. I picked up a small rock and took aim. It hit him square in the jaw.
"Oww! What was that for, love?" he exclaimed. "For being a complete scoundrel," I replied. "But being a complete scoundrel is my job. I'm Capt. Liam Sparrow. Savvy?" I decided to ignore him. I just sighed and swept my hair out of my face. I hate my hair; it never wants to behave once it gets longer than my shoulders. I once told my mum about my loathing for my dark brown curls, and how I envied her smooth blond tresses. She just smiled and said my hair was beautiful, since I had inherited it from my father. Really, my parents are embarrassing. Not that I usually give much thought to something as trivial as hair. But on my twelfth birthday, it proved to give me an undue amount of trouble.
Tortuga and I walked down the beach away from the boys. We had just began a rock-skipping contest when my mother arrived, looking rather annoyed. This couldn't be a good thing. "Katie, come with me," she said. "Your grandfather wants to see you." "Great! We get to go on the Flying Dutchman! That is so much fun," I replied. "Don't be ridiculous, Katie. My father wants to see you." I groaned inwardly. As much as I loved my maternal grandfather, going to visit usually required getting dressed up and acting proper. Not really my cup of tea. "What about?" I inquired. "You'll find out when we got there," she replied distractedly. She then looked wistfully at my disheveled appearance and tangled locks. "I don't suppose there is anything we can do with your hair." This was definitely not a good thing.
Not long afterward, I found myself standing in the foyer of my grandfather's house. Because he is the governor of Port Royal, his house is the largest and most magnificent in town. The place where my mother spent the later part of her childhood really is a beautiful house, but at the current moment I wasn't in the mood to see beauty in much of anything. I was wearing an uncomfortable silk dress, and had been standing there in the foyer for close to twenty minutes. It had seemed like hours. It was at that point I noticed one of the candlesticks hanging on the wall between the large windows. They seemed a bit superfluous, since at night the light in the foyer was supplied by the huge chandelier that hung from the ceiling. I took a few steps across the room to examine the candlestick. At the slightest touch, it snapped off, leaving me standing there with a broken candlestick in my hand. I disposed of it in the closest convenient spot: an old umbrella holder.
"You too?" said a voice. I turned to see my father standing there, grinning at me.
"Me too what?" I asked.
"I broke that exact same candlestick once. You put it in the umbrella holder, didn't you?" He then glanced up at the spiral staircase, and smiled slightly, as if enjoying a fond memory. I probably didn't want to know.
"Um, dad?" I said, bringing him back to reality.
"Oh, sorry Katie," he said. "Just remembering something that happened a long time ago. We can go see your grandfather now."
Mum was standing in front of the desk inside Grandfather's office. Like me, she wore a fancy dress, her light-colored hair pulled up into an elaborate style that I could never pull off in a million years. For the moment my still-damp curls had been pulled back from my face with another ribbon that I would probably lose later. My hair did not like to be tame. My grandfather sat behind his large mahogany desk, holding a single piece of parchment in his hand. He was addressing my mother when dad and I entered.
"Really, Elizabeth, I don't see what you are so upset about. It is quite an honor to be…" He didn't finish the thought, but looked up at me with a smile when I entered the room. "Ah, Katherine, you can be a proper young lady when you set your mind to it." By this I believe he was referring to the way I was dressed, in the uncomfortable blue silk dress he had given me as a birthday present. It was beautiful, but it was a pain, with so many straps and ties and buttons. I much prefer pants any day. "However," he continued, "you do not know everything a proper young lady should know, and in fact you have knowledge of many things that a proper young lady should not. Of course, such improper knowledge is to be expected of someone raised by pirates." He said this last word with the slightest hint of contempt as he glanced over at my father. Usually they got along pretty well, but I don't think my grandfather had ever forgiven my father for turning to a life of piracy and leading my mother down the same path. My father met my grandfather's gaze, and they glared at each other. My mother quickly took control of the situation.
"Father, we are not here to talk about pirates, but rather about Katie's future in regards to this letter." She pointed to the desk, where the mysterious piece of parchment rested. By now I was nearly overwhelmed with curiosity. What was so important about the letter? Who was it from, and what did it have to do with me?
"Katherine," Grandfather said, picking up the letter again, "how would you like to go to England?" Is that what this was all about, a trip to England? Suddenly things seemed to be looking up. In all of my travels I had never been to the country where my parents had been born and raised. I nodded enthusiastically, indicating that I would love to go to England.
"Fantastic. I have here a statement of acceptance from Hopkins' Academy for Young Ladies. It is one of the finest institutions for the education of young ladies in all of England." Sounds nice, I thought, but what does it have to do with me?
"Alright. Who's it for?" I asked in all sincerity. I knew that I, a pirate, would never be accepted into a proper British boarding school for proper British girls. These sorts of things just don't happen. However, my grandfather seemed rather befuddled by this inquiry.
"It's for you, Katherine. Who else would it be for?"
"You mean to tell me that by some bizarre twist of fate, I have been accepted into a school for 'proper young ladies', even though I clearly am not one. I am a pirate." This fact did not seem to bother Grandfather at all.
"Your previous history doesn't matter," he replied. "You have been accepted into Hopkins' anyway. It is a very fine school, you know. Your grandmother went attended there, as did both of your great aunts. And your mother would have attended as well had I not accepted the post as Governor of Port Royal."
"And my life would have been predictable and boring," my mother added. She clearly did not like the idea of me going to boarding school any more than I did.
"Indeed, Elizabeth," Grandfather said to my mother before turning back to me. "The point is, you don't have to go if you don't want to." At this declaration I breathed an enormous sigh of relief. Now I could forget all of this ridiculous boarding school rubbish and get on with my life. As I turned to leave, Grandfather stopped me one last time.
"What were you doing earlier, Katherine?" He asked. In retrospect, I should have lied. I am a pirate after all. But I didn't lie, I told the truth.
"I went swimming with Jack and Liam and Tortuga," I told him.
"So that's why your hair is wet?"
"Yes." What was everyone's obsession with my hair today? "And about my hair. It doesn't matter what I do to it, it never behaves. No amount of proper Britishness is going to fix it." Unfortunately, by this time I had begun what would prove to be an argument of epic proportions.
"You know Katherine, I disagree," my grandfather started again. "When your mother was your age…"
"When I was her age my hair was kept in those ridiculous ringlets. I looked like a porcelain doll," my mother interrupted.
"You looked beautiful," my father said quietly. My mother smiled and gently took his hand.
"Oh Will," she said, just as quietly. Honestly, my parents are embarrassing. Grandfather attempted to start the conversation yet again. By this time he was rather annoyed. This was so stupid. I wanted the entire discussion to end, so I said the first thing that came to mind.
"Who gives a bloody rat's ass about my stupid hair?!" I shouted. Needless to say, that was a mistake. Despite being surrounded by pirates every day, I very rarely cursed. Don't know why, I just didn't do it often. And I never cursed around my parents. For a few seconds there was complete silence. It was as if everyone was too shocked to do anything. Mum then made the first move.
"Katherine Annie Swann Turner!" She had called me by my full name. That is definitely not a good thing.
"That's it! You are going to Hopkins'!" shouted my grandfather. "Some time away from those other pirate children will do you a world of good."
"My brother is one of 'those other pirate children' you know. Geez, why does no one care what boys do! It's not fair that you're shipping me off to England. I don't want to go!" I was shouting now too. This wasn't like me at all, but I was so upset that I wasn't thinking straight. Even though she was angry at me, my mother took my side on the issue.
"Father," she said in a voice both soothing and persuasive, "you said that Katie did not have to go if she didn't want to. Grandfather softened a bit when Mum talked to him. She is such a daddy's girl, and can usually get what she wants.
"You're right Elizabeth, I did say that. But sometimes what we want is not what is best for us. I believe that going to Hopkins is what is best for Katherine." At this point, my father, who had been silent for most of the conversation, decided to put his two cents in.
"Well, Elizabeth and I do not believe going to England is what is best for her, and we are her parents." He was clearly angry. Grandfather matched his tone perfectly.
"You may be her father, William, but I am the Governor of Port Royal, and since she is a citizen of this city, I could command her to go."
"Channeling Lord Beckett much?" my father replied, his voice full of venom. "Using your power to get what you want and destroy the lives of others."
"Will!" my mother exclaimed, shocked and angry. "How could you say such a horrible thing about my father?!"
"Elizabeth, it's our daughter we're talking about here. It's Katie. She shouldn't be forced to do something that she doesn't want to do." My mother considered this for a moment, and then turned to my grandfather.
"Will's right. We're not going to make her go somewhere she doesn't want to go. And don't forget, I have a title as well. As Pirate King of the Brethren Court, I could command her not to go. She is a pirate after all. You said so yourself."
"Elizabeth, do you honestly that anyone at Hopkins' would recognize that title?" Grandfather asked, now very frustrated.
"That's the entire point!" my father interjected. "No one there would be anything like Katherine. She would be miserable." I already was miserable after having listened so long to this ridiculous argument. I quietly slipped out the door, leaving the adults to their bickering. All this because of my stupid hair. I hate my hair.
Well, there you have Chapter 1. Like it? Hate it? Got any suggestions?
If you answered yes to any of the above, please review now.