Silverstar: I LIVE!!!!!! …Well, kind of. I wanted to start this off early because the first couple chapters don't need the script, and if I don't start now…well, I might not ever.
Anyway, this is probably going to be my last multi-chapter story, so let's make it a good one! Before we start, I just want to make one thing clear:
THE EVENTS OF REVERSED NEVER HAPPENED!
THE EVENTS OF REVERSED NEVER HAPPENED!
THE EVENTS OF REVERSED NEVER HAPPENED!
THE EVENTS OF REVERSED NEVER HAPPENED!!!!!!
Which means that Jack doesn't know that Mary's from the future, Mary doesn't know if Jack loves her or not, and Mary's friends still think that Mary is a normal teenager, albeit a bit miserable. GOT IT?!?!
Good. Okay, let's get this party started! WOOT!
Disclaimer: I don't own POTC. I don't own Toby, who belongs to Wolfen-Ways. I do own Mary. I also don't own the brief excerpt from an online article on 18 th century British marriage. To see the whole article, follow the steps Mary did below.
Chapter 1: Taking a Last Look
(Normal POV)
"That's ridiculous," seventeen-year-old Mary said simply, leaning back on her bed and pressing the phone a little closer to her ear. "I mean really, really ridiculous."
"Oh, come on, Mary, think about it," Rebecca answered, her voice slightly crackly from static. "Why else would Port Royal give birth to freaks like Norrington and Beckett?"
"You know, technically England gave birth to –,"
"WHATEVER! Look, I Googled it this morning and I swear it's true! Port Royal used to be a pirate town!"
Mary rolled over onto her stomach, her eyes scanning her POTC posters on the walls. "It still sounds pretty…out there."
"I know, but it's in a book, right? A best-selling book by the makers of Dragonology and Egyptology? Check this out: Port Royal, Jamaica, was a town of roughnecks and rapscallions until the year 1692, where an earthquake wiped out over a third of the town. People took that as a sign of God, so – hang on, listen…"
Mary was quiet until she heard the familiar voice of the Pirate Lord of the Indian Ocean, Sumbhajee: "Then we shall go to war!"
Mary's prompt response was to burst out laughing, with Rebecca joining in on the other end. "Oh, God, that's awesome!" Mary said, grinning. "If Jack wasn't a Pirate Lord, this guy would totally be my favorite!"
"What about Teague?"
"Yeah, him too," Mary consented. After all, she thought, we might end up knowing each other very well, if Jack… Mary's thoughts broke off abruptly, and a small tear fell out of the corner of her eye. It had been a full year since she had returned from Dead Man's Chest, but she could still see the Pearl collapsing under the weight of enormous green tentacles, and Jack speaking to her from beyond the grave…
"Mary?" Rebecca cut through her thoughts. "You still there?"
Mary took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm here."
"Are you all right, Mary? You've been pretty…off for a while."
"Fine," Mary answered slowly. "So, uh…how're you doing on memorization?"
A wave of static greeted Mary as Rebecca sighed deeply. "Terrible. At World's End is awesome, but it's been so hard to memorize!"
"It's been five months, Rebecca."
"Well, have you memorized it?"
"As a matter of fact, I have," Mary said proudly. Her eyes fell to her bracelet, fit snugly around her left wrist. I hope you heard that, Calypso.
"Well, good for you," Rebecca said grumpily. "Of course, not everyone has the ability for frenzied memorization over a three week period!"
Mary cleared her throat. Ever since the AWE DVD had come out, she had watched every day, sometimes multiple times per day, in order to memorize it. Of course, it hadn't been easy; like Rebecca said, the plot was hard to follow, and there were three whole hours of POTC gold to memorize, not to mention the fact that Mary would often stop paying attention to the whole movie, becoming lost in her memories and dreaming of things to come. "Just lucky, I guess," she answered meekly.
"Whatever," Rebecca said indifferently. "Oh, I've got to hang up now. They're confronting Beckett on the beach!"
Mary sat up. "Laugh at Davy Jones' bucket-feet for me!"
"Will do. See ya!"
"Bye."
Mary replaced the phone on her bedside table and looked around the room. Her eyes finally fell on her unfinished history notes, lying on top of her computer's keyboard. Mary gave an exasperated sigh. The report was right up her alley – 18th century British customs – but that didn't make it any less easy. Hollywood, apparently, didn't bother taking serious history into account during movie making. Damn you, Gore Verbinski.
Mary sighed again and sat down at the computer, looking over the notes. Brief history, daily life, holidays, schooling…all she really needed now was marriage customs. Logging into to Google, she typed in, '18th century British Marriage Customs' and clicked on the first link.
Until the mid-18th century, the requirements for a legal English marriage were merely that the two parties exchange words of consent, two witnesses be present, the vows be said in the present tense, and the marrying couple be of age - fourteen for men and twelve for women!
Mary caught her breath, eyes wide. Twelve?! Wow, they grew up fast back then…if Rebecca and I lived back then, we would already be married and have – Mary's thoughts broke off. Involuntarily, she glanced back at her poster of Jack. If Britain was controlling the Caribbean back then, then it would be perfectly legal if Jack and I…
No, no, NO! Snap out of it, Anderson! That can never, EVER happen because one, Jack is NOT the marrying type, two, it's practically impossible to raise a family on a pirate ship, and three… Mary broke off once again, squeezing her eyes shut to block the tears.
Elizabeth may have gotten married, but no one ever said Jack didn't still love her.
Mary woke up with a start that night. Sitting up groggily, she saw Terra, her golden retriever, barking like mad. She glared at her owner's nightstand, where the bracelet lay discreetly.
"Shh, Terra!" Mary hissed, leaning over and grabbing the back of Terra's collar. "You wanna wake up the whole neighborhood?"
Terra obediently lay down, but her eyes never left the bracelet. Mary stood up and held the bracelet in one hand. A small gasp left her lips, and her eyes widened. The bracelet had been on that nightstand for hours, and yet it was warm to the touch.
Oh my God…is this…?
Terra slowly walked over to her, stood on two legs, and licked her cheek. Mary kissed the top of her head and stroked her fur. "I love you, too, girl, but you know you can't come with me." She sat back down on the bed. "You'll make sure Mom and Dad and the guys won't get too lonely, right?" Terra whimpered softly.
Suddenly, the bracelet began shaking, and the pearls began glowing. Mary took a deep breath and slipped the bracelet over her wrist. "Here I come, Jack," she whispered, and her world went dark.
Silverstar: I'll be able to post up one more chapter (hopefully a longer one) without the script.