She felt guilty for what she had just done. True it was several years ago, but to her it was just yesterday. She had never been one to hate them…on the contrary she was amused by them. She had even wanted to become a part of them. Like them. But for someone in her stature, in her power…it was impossible. So she had a better plan. To live amongst them, learn them, and by and by become as they are, even if in all truth, she never would be. Now, after what she had just done, made her feel even more distanced from them…more distanced from the humans. True enough, they had their many flaws, to the point of where evil roamed free the land they walked on, the sea they sailed on. But what she had just done, didn't do anything to make that better. As she sat at a table in a bar in Tortuga, even as the porting pirates and their wenches were carrying on, she grimaced at her cowardice. Suddenly, amongst the brawling, a particular argument caught her attention.
"What the bloody hell do you think you are doing, scum?!!" shouted a drunken pirate. He grabbed a boy by the collar of the shirt and sent him sprawling backwards, down the stairs from where they stood. "What do you mean by getting familiar with my wench?!" pirate spurted at the boy. The boy's trousers were loose, his hair messy, and his shirt un-tucked from his pants. She looked at the boy's frantic expression, however startled, the boy replied coolly.
"Mate, when a maid knows what she wants, I give it to her…" he smirked. The drunken man wasted no time in punching the boy for his fresh comment. She turned back around to her drink, trying to ignore the brawl, after all there were plenty others to drown it out. However she couldn't and suddenly realized who the boy was. It was a boy she had met and saved from a self-induced danger only years before…As she heard the punches fly between them, she gritted her teeth and stood up with sudden haste, the crowd stopped to look. She kicked her chair aside violently and withdrew her cutlass.
"Belay there!" she yelled at the swaying pirate. "Punishment for this boy's familiarity is rational enough, aye, but away with you! You drunken scum, the boys takes my lashings! He's crossed me better than you."
The man stumbled on the spot, but repented, tossing aside the argument with a motion of a dirty hand. She stood up straighter and smiled to herself. The boy however, noticed his chance at escape and made for it. Reacting, she grabbed him by the cuff of his shirt and dragged him out of the bar. When they were far enough away, she released him.
"What are you playing at boy?! How many times must I save your sorry ass?!" she yelled at him. She sniffed him. "Is that rum on your breath boy?"
"Aye, have any more?" he asked, his speech slurred. She slapped him. "I don't think I entirely deserved that…" he said rubbing his cheek. His expression shifted at a sudden realization. "Save me?" He said studying her face. "You-?"
"Aye, it's me again and it better be the last time for your bloody sake!" she shouted at him. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Now fix yourself up, you already look sorry enough." she ordered. He rolled his eyes, but did as she commanded. Finishing he pulled a red bandana from his pocket and wrapped it around his head. "Pirate now?" she asked amused. "Pillaging, plundering and getting familiar with women well above your age."
"Of course what is age but a number, eh?" he said now eyeing her. She was pretty enough, raven hair that shown red in the sun, deep black eyes and olive skin, but this boy would have had her if not for all those things.
"Put your eyes back in you skull boy, you're fifteen, in only three year you've gone from stow-away to pirate, yet you can't even battle your self-drawn brawls!" she stated. The boy shrugged.
"By the way, how is The Aquarius? You still captain?" he asked with low eyelids. She nodded and pushed him slightly.
"Yes and you will address me as so." she demanded. He swayed where he stood and squinted.
"Aye, aye Captain. But don't get use to it! I'm well on my way to captaincy." he slurred.
"Perhaps age is just a number to you? Captain at fifteen?"
"You're young and you're captain, are you not? What are you? 20?"
"25. Fine you want to be captain…with what ship?"
"What ship indeed? The Black Pearl." he said with a smirk.
"And just how do you plan on that? What with it been at the bottom of the ocean for years!"
"I'm still working on that…"
"Clearly…look boy, if you want to engage in piracy, fine, but I will have no hand in it. You will take passage with me and me crew to Port Royal and that is where you will stay, savvy?"
The boy swooned and looked as if to say something, but instead passed out, hitting the ground face first. She shook her head and couldn't help but allow the smile that was tugging at her lips to form. She picked him up from under the his legs and made way for her ship. Once on deck she set the boy down in her quarters. Her first mate appeared as she pulled the covers over the boy.
"Him again?" he asked. She nodded.
"Make ready to sail."
"Our heading?"
"The usual route to Port Royal. That's his port." she said sitting down in a chair beside the bed.
"Aye, Captain Calesteta." the mated said, then walked off. She placed her feet up upon the bed post and sighed.
"What am I going to do with you Jack Sparrow?"
The references to Jack's childhood made in this fanfic are not based in anyway on the young Jack Sparrow books. This fanfic is based solely on the movies. Thanks for reading the prologue! Much more is to come!