Finding Out Your Destiny

By Starswim

Plot: Melanie Parker wished to have adventure and excitement in her life. Her wish came true finally came true, when Barbossa's crew arrives at Port Royal. To survive the life of piracy, she must become a pirate herself. During her journey, she uncovers a piece from her past that was the key to her destiny. What is her destiny? Will she choose the life of piracy or not? One way to find out...

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that belongs to Disney and POTC except my OC

A/N: I was going to write this fanfic about two fangirls being transported to the POTC world, but I changed my mind. I wanted to try something different. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this story.

Chapter I: The Past

Aboard the Princess, a young, twelve-year-old girl was ready to set sail toward the Caribbean. She was dressed up in non-lady like clothing with her auburn hair pulled back to a low ponytail, hoping that she was believed to be a boy. Why? So that she could sneak in passing ships and do work that women wouldn't normally do. The young girl was traveling alone with no family nor a friend to accompany with. She was the only child on the Princess... at least she thought she was.

As the Princess began sailing, the girl noticed a young, dark haired boy, who looked like the girl's age, watching the horizon in front of him. The girl stood next to the boy and watched the horizon with him. "It's beautiful, isn't?" the girl finally spoke.

The boy looked at her and smiled, "It certainly is." There was a long awkward pause, until the boy began a conversation, "W-What's your purpose here?"

The girl glared at him awkwardly before answering, "Um... I'm actually passing through."

"Oh. Where are you going?"

"No where important." The girl asked curiously, "What's your purpose here?"

"I'm looking for someone."

"Who?"

"Someone important to me, you don't know him."

"Understandable..." the girl looked at the boy and can tell that he hadn't eaten anything in a while. So, the girl opened her bag and got out a red apple for the boy, "Apple?"

The boy looked at the juicy tempting apple before shaking his head, "No thanks."

"You sure? I got plenty in my bag."

"I couldn't."

The girl smirked and rolled her eyes, "It's not like I poisoned it or anything."

The boy gave out a small chuckle, "I know. It's just I can't take it from a stranger."

"Well, you're talking to me, aren't you? How about this, we'll tell each other our names, and that would not make us strangers."

The boy nodded, "Okay. You first."

The girl smiled, "Fine." She looked behind her to make sure no one was nearby or listening to her. So far no one was paying attention to her, just controlling the ship. "I'm Mela- uh- I mean Marty... I'm Marty Parker."

The boy looked at her confusingly, "Marty Parker?"

She nodded, "Yeah." She began talking with a deep male voice, "Marty Parker."

The boy furrowed his brows, "You were about to say something else. You first said Mela."

"Did I?"

Will nodded, "Yes, and that voice sounded like a..."

The girl smirked and asked, "Like a what?"

The boy looked at her closely and gasped when he realized who she was. "Y-You're a... a girl?!"

"Shh!" the girl shushed at Will, before she looked behind them to see if anybody was close by. She turned back to Will and said viciously, "Keep it down. Do you want me to get caught?"

Will's eyes grew wide in shock, "You're a girl?"

The girl smiled sheepishly, "You didn't notice?"

The boy shook his head, "No, I didn't. Not at first. Who are you really, if you aren't Marty."

"My real name is Melanie Parker. Pleasure to meet you by the way."

"Why on earth are you pretending to be a girl for?"

"I'll tell you, but I really don't know your name."

"Oh... My name is Will Turner."

Melanie held her hand out for Will's to shake his hand, "Nice to meet you, Will."

"Now answer my question," Will said impatiently.

Melanie rolled her eyes, "Okay. Okay. The reason why I'm pretending to be a boy is because I could sneak in this boat."

"Why?"

"Isn't obvious? Can you imagine me walking in this boat by myself, wearing a dress? They'll kick me out this ship and say that this is no place for a little girl."

"I-I guess that makes sense."

"Listen, you can't tell anybody I'm a girl. I don't want them to kick me out of this boat. Please? If you want me to beg, I'll beg."

Will shook his head, "There's no need for that..." He looked at Melanie's pleading eyes before smiling at her, "Okay. Your secret is safe with me."

Melanie sighed with relief, "Thanks. I'll owe you big time."

"There's no need for that either. I'm glad to help out a friend."

Melanie smiled, "Really. I'm your friend?"

Will nodded, "Of course."

Melanie looked at the apple again, "Well, since we're not strangers anymore and now friends, would you like to have an apple?" Melanie asked again as she raised the apple, offering it to Will.

"You definitely have a big apple, Melanie, but I shouldn't take it."

"Why not? I told you before, I got plenty."

"I know, it's just that I shouldn't take a big apple from you. I-It doesn't feel right."

Melanie furrowed her brows confusingly, "What's not right about it?" Before Will could answer, she continued, "Alright. I'll tell you what." Melanie reached down and grabbed a pocket knife from the inside of her boot, then she started cutting the apple in half, "I'll cut it in half, and we each take a piece. Deal?"

Will looked at the apple and had the hungry look in his eyes. He smiled and nodded, "Okay."

"Great," once Melanie finished cutting the apple, she handed half of the apple to Will and took the other half for her to eat.

Will took a big bite of the apple and smiled in satisfaction. "Mm. It's delicious," Will commented with his mouth full.

Melanie snickered at his reaction. After she ate her bite, she began speaking, "My mom used to plant big apple trees back home. She knew how much I love apples."

"Really? Is your mother here?"

Melanie paused for a long moment and sadly lowered herself to the deck floor. Will looked at worriedly, so he crouched down beside her, "D-Did I say something wrong?"

Melanie shook her head, "No, you didn't... It's just that..." Tears were about to form in her eyes, but she tried to hold them back. The last thing she wanted to do was to have a breakdown in front of a boy, she just met.

"Oh," Will finally understood what she was getting at, and now felt bad that he brought it up, "I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"No. No. It's okay. My mom believed in heaven, so I guess she's in that peaceful place right now."

"My mom died too," Will said sadly, "So, I know how you feel."

Melanie turned to Will and patted his back, "Thank you... What about your dad?"

"I-I don't know if he is alive or not. That's what I want to find out."

"Is he the important someone, you were talking about earlier?"

Will nodded, "Yes. All I know about him was that he's a merchant sailor. What about your father?"

"I never met my father, even when I was a baby. My mom told me that he was sea captain."

"What kind of captain?"

Melanie shrugged, "I don't know. She didn't really specify or talk about him at all. I'm not searching for him, if that's what you're thinking."

"So why are you here? Are you meeting someone, who could take care of you?"

Melanie shook her head, "No. Just between us, I'm running away from my hometown."

"What? Why?"

"Because I want to be independent. I want to be free as a bird. So I ran away and plan on traveling the whole world."

"That's insane. You're just a kid."

Melanie smiled, "I know right. I know this sounds crazy, but it would be amazing to..." Melanie turned around again to make sure no one was listening or nearby.

"Amazing to what?"

Melanie leaned over to Will's ear and whispered, "I think it would be amazing to meet a pirate."

Will looked up at Melanie in shock, "What?"

Melanie shrugged, "Yeah, it's crazy. I know, but it would be exciting, don't you think?"

"But it's against the law."

Melanie smirked and whispered, "Not if I get caught."

Will chuckled, "Yeah, if you get caught."

After an hour of traveling across the ocean, Will and Melanie were doing chore that they were assigned to do, kept on talking, and became more than acquaintances. It turned out that they had a lot in common.

While they were mopping the deck, a fog was blocking their ocean view. "I hope this fog clears up soon," Will said as he continued mopping the deck. Melanie stopped what she was doing and looked at the ocean. There was a shadow hidden behind the fog. She squinted to see another ship nearby, "Hey look."

Will turned around to see what Melanie was looking at, "Look what?"

"There! I see a ship! Don't you see it?"

"I'm surprised we can see," Will put his mop down and stood next to Melanie to see this ship himself. He couldn't find a ship except a large shadow, that he couldn't make out to what it was, "I don't see anything!"

"I do! I think it could be a-a pirate ship!"

A merchant behind them laughed at Melanie's theory, "A pirate ship?! That's absurd!"

"What?" Melanie demanded while narrowing her eyes at the merchant challengingly, "You think that's not a possibility?"

"I don't think pirates would be dumb enough to come near land. If they do, they'll get exactly what they deserve."

"And what's that, sir?" Will asked curiously. The merchant lifted his tie up and stuck his tie up, mimicking a hanging. Will and Melanie's eyes grew wide when they saw that. Their response caused the merchant to chuckle merrily before getting back to work.

Melanie rolled her eyes and mumbled, "I don't care what they say about pirates. I think they're exciting."

"I'm sure they are, Melanie," Will said half-heartedly, "But they do pillage, kill, and-"

Melanie raised her hand up to stop Will from talking, "I get it."

BANG! Suddenly, everyone heard an explosion coming near their ship. "What was that?!" a random merchant cried out. Everyone stood still and looked at their surroundings to see where that noise came from.

"I wonder what that-" Before Melanie could talk more... BANG! BANG! BANG! More explosion noises were heard, and Will noticed something in the sky. It was black and round. Will squinted his eyes to see that the round thing was cannonball!

"LOOK OUT!" Will cried out, but it was too late. One cannonball hit the ship.

"LOAD THE CANNONS!" The captain of ship cried out, and the whole crew and merchants were scrambling around, preparing to fight an ambush. Before they could shoot a cannonball, the ship was sinking, and it was on fire! Melanie and Will ran away a safe distance from the flames and the panicked crew. More cannonballs appeared in the sky and continued to attack the ship. The Princess was going down in the ocean and forming more flames.

One cannonball was about to hit Melanie and Will. Melanie gasped fearfully and too scared to move. Luckily, Will was smart enough to push her and himself down, avoiding the cannonball. It hit above them and formed more flames behind them.

"Melanie!" Will looked at Melanie below him and said, "We have to jump!"

"What?!" Melanie looked up at him in shock.

"I said we have to jump!"

"B-But-" Melanie stammered, "But I can't swim!"

"Do you want to stay here and die?!" Will demanded. Melanie shook her, giving Will her obvious answer. "Then we have to jump!" Will pulled Melanie up on her feet and helped her up on the rail, "On three!"

"Wait I-"

"ONE!"

"But Will!"

"TWO!"

"HOLD ON!" Before Melanie could protest, Will jumped with her in the ocean without saying 'three'. Melanie and Will came up from the water, soaking wet, and gasping for breath.

Melanie was kicking and waving her arms around, trying to stay above water, "W-WILL! H-H-HELP!"

"Hold on! I got you!" Will grabbed Melanie's waist and pulled her with him to a nearby remaining piece of the Princess. "Get on!" Melanie immediately climbed on the raft-like wood and held on for dear life. Will climbed himself on board and held onto Melanie.

"Hold on!" Will cried out."Like I have a choice!" Melanie snapped angrily.

Suddenly, the ship exploded with flames flaming higher, and people screaming for their lives. Melanie and Will ducked their heads down, avoiding flying debris from the ship. After long painful minutes of screams and sounds of cannonballs, Melanie and Will passed out, and they were sailing away from the burning and sinking ship.

~MDA~

Meanwhile, another ship named the H.M.S. Dauntless was sailing from England to Port Royal. Another girl, who was Melanie's age, who had blonde, curly hair and wearing a blue dress. She was looking at the ocean and singing quietly, ""

The young girl gasped and whiled around, when she felt somebody's hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see an older man, who hissed at her strictly, "Quiet, missy! Cursed pirates sail these waters. You don't want to bring them down on us, now, do ya?"

"Mr. Gibbs," another male voice said to the older man, "that will do!" Mr. Gibbs and the young girl looked at a younger man, who was the lieutenant.

"She was singing about pirates," Mr. Gibbs explained to the lieutenant, "Bad luck to be singing about pirates with us mired in this unnatural fog. Mark my words."

"Consider them marked. On your way."

"Aye, Lieutenant," Mr. Gibbs stepped away from the young girl and the lieutenant, then secretly, took a drink from his canteen. He mumbled to himself, "It's bad luck to have a woman on board, too... even a miniature one."

"I think it'd be rather exciting to meet a pirate," the young girl spoke truthfully.

The lieutenant looked down at her and smiled, "Think again, Elizabeth. Vile and dissolute creatures, the lot of them. I intend to see to it that any man, who sails under a pirate flag or wears a pirate brand, gets what he deserves... a short drop and a sudden stop." Elizabeth glanced at Mr. Gibbs, who mimicked a hanging. She gasped at that thought and turned back to the lieutenant.

That was when Elizabeth's father, Governor Swann, stepped in, "Lieutenant Norrington, I appreciate your fervor, but I'm- uh- I'm concerned about the effect this subject will have upon my daughter."

"My apologies, Governor Swann," Norrington said as he walked away.

"Actually," Elizabeth disagreed with her perky attitude, "I find it all fascinating."

Governor Swann gave Elizabeth a disapproving look, "Yes, that's what concerns me."

Elizabeth lowered her head and turned away from her father to look at the ocean again. As she was looking in water, she noticed a parasol floating by. Then, Elizabeth looked at her left and gasped in horror, when she saw unconscious Will and Melanie floating on a piece of wreckage from the Princess. "Look!" Elizabeth cried to everybody as she pointed at the two children in the water, "There! There's a boy and a girl in the water!"

Everyone immediately ran to the side of the ship and looked at the ocean to see Will and Melanie floating unconsciously. "Children overboard!" Norrington cried out, "Man the ropes. Fetch a Hook! Haul them aboard!" The sailors did what Norrington ordered them to do and lifted the children on board. The two men carried Will and Melanie out of their raft and laid them on the deck floor.

Norrington lowered his head toward Melanie to check her breathing first. Before he could do that, Melanie sat up and gasped for breath. Norrington and the others gasped surprisingly at Melanie's awakening. Melanie was now panicking and was looking around frantically, "W-Where am I? W-What happened?!"

"It's alright, child," Governor Swann reassured Melanie, "You're safe now."

Melanie looked down next to her and found Will still unconscious, "Will?! Will?!" Melanie began shaking Will, trying to wake him up. However, Will wasn't moving a muscle. "Come on, Will, wake up!"

Norrington kneeled beside Will to check his breathing. "Move over!" he ordered Melanie, who stood up to give Norrington room.

She was shaking and was afraid for Will's life, "Is he going to be okay?! Is he dead?!"

Norrington placed his ear over Will's face and placed his fingers over Will's wrist to check his pulse, "He's still breathing."

Governor Swann leaned to Melanie's level and turned her to face him, "Tell me, child. What happened to you?"

Melanie was too shaken to answer Governor Swann. However, Mr. Gibbs spotted the burning ship a few feet away from their ship, "Mary, Mother of God!" Everyone except Melanie and Will ran back to the side of the ship again to see that the Princess was burning and was sinking.

"What happened here?" Governor Swann demanded.

"It's most likely the powder magazine," Norrington assumed, "Merchant vessels run heavily armed."

"A lot of good it did them," Mr. Gibbs said, "Everyone's thinking it. I'm just saying it... Pirates!"

Governor Swann scoffed nervously at Mr. Gibbs' suggestion, "There's no proof of that. It was probably an accident."

"Rouse the Captain immediately!" Norrington ordered, "Heave to and take in sail. Launch the boats." Norrington quickly walked with the sailors to the long boats, so they could go to the Princess, searching for any survivors.

Elizabeth and Governor Swann looked at Melanie, who ran her fingers through Will's wet hair. "Elizabeth," Governor Swann began softly, "I want you to accompany the children. They'll be in your charge. Take care of them."

Elizabeth nodded and walked toward shaken Melanie and still unconscious Will. She looked at Melanie sympathetically, "Are you alright?"

Melanie looked up at Elizabeth with tear stains on her cheeks and said, "I don't know. Is Will going to be okay?"

Elizabeth furrowed her brows confusingly, "Will?"

Melanie looked at Will beside her and explained, "That's his name. Will Turner."

"Oh," Elizabeth glared at Will and took a long look at him, "I see." She turned her attention back to Melanie, "My name is Elizabeth Swann. What's your name?"

Melanie cleared her throat and answered, "I'm Melanie. Melanie Parker."

Elizabeth placed her hand on Melanie's shoulder and smiled at her, "I'm watching over you and Will, Melanie."

Melanie couldn't help but smile back, "Thank you." She stood up, and they gave each other a long hug.

"It's going to be okay," Elizabeth whispered, "I promise."

Meanwhile, Governor Swann was watching Elizabeth and Melanie hugging and couldn't help but smile at that scene. He didn't know who Melanie was or where she came from, but knew that she needed help, love, and care. He also knew that Elizabeth would need some company, a friend, possibly a sister. Governor Swann smiled at that thought, then walked away.

While Elizabeth hugged Melanie, she couldn't help but noticed what was around Will's neck. Carefully without Melanie knowing, Elizabeth reached her arm toward Will's neck and took his necklace, but it turned out to be a medallion with a skeleton image on it. Elizabeth's eyes grew wide and held back her gasp, He's a... pirate.

Melanie didn't pay attention to what Elizabeth was doing. Instead, she looked up and saw a mysterious ship with black sails sailing away. Melanie squinted her eyes and noticed a black pirate flag flying on top of the ship's mast as the wind was blowing through it. Melanie's eyes grew wide not in fear, but with amazement. For the first time in her life, she actually saw a real pirate ship.