Disclaimer:I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean or any of the characters with the exception of OCs. Thank ye.

The first thing I noticed when I woke that morning was that I was soaked from head to toe. The next thing was that I was not on my bed; I was on hard ground. And the third was the gruff voices and loud footsteps around me. I opened my eyes, realising how vulnerable my position on the floor was. I scrambled up from the ground and steadied myself. The wind ruffled my short brown hair and the air tasted salty.

Surrounding me were men - more like animals, really. Filthy, appallingly dressed and carrying a rancid pong with them. Some were missing limbs, some were missing eyes. They were all missing one thing in common: hygiene. So, either they were pigs or...
Pirates. This was exactly how my mother had described them. My first instinct was to scream. But unfortunately, a certain pirate was there to stop me...

Slapping his hand onto the small girl's mouth, Jack leaned towards her ear.

"We don't bite, love," he said quietly.

"I KNOW THAT, FOOL!" She spat onto Jack's hand, which he wiped onto her pink frock. "YOU JUST STEAL AND KILL AND FIGHT AND JUST STINK IN GENERAL!"

"Yes, love. And that's the one thing that your type have in common with us," Jack said.

"Don't call me 'love', you...you odorous nincompoop!" yelled the girl. Jack looked amused while slightly confused.

"Odorous...what?"

"You are an odorous nincompoop," she stated.

"You smell funny."

"UGH! GET ME OFF THIS WRETCHED SHIP!"

"No."

"GET. ME. OFF."

"For you to report me to those miserable wigged idiots? No thanks. I think I'd rather not be hanged."

"Why? You do deserve it after all." She scowled. "Mark my words. You won't escape this time."

Jack laughed mirthlessly. "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, love," he said. "I always escape."

The girl frowned. Where had she heard that name before? As she was thinking, a fat young boy, about fourteen years old, crept into Jack's vision.

"Hello, Borris," Jack said to his newest recruit. Borris ignored him as his plump arm raised slowly and dramatically to point in Jack's direction. His stubby finger quivered and Jack realised that he was in fact pointing at the girl.

"F-f-female child...LADY ON BOARD! AAAAAAAAARGH!" he exclaimed, and ran towards her, brandishing a belt in his hand.

"AAAAAARGH!" he yelled as he whipped her on the head. Being rather frail, the girl fell to the floor. This caught the attention of Mr Gibbs, and he strode towards them. The girl was clearly unconscious.

"Why did we hire this one, Gibbs?" said Jack.

"Because no one else would sail the seven seas with ye, Jack," he replied. Jack sighed.

"It was a rhetorical question, Gibbs." Gibbs grinned an almost-toothless grin.

The girl woke up and threw a tantrum once again. She couldn't be more than nine years old. Obviously she was rich and most probably had some relation with royalty. Which other small person in the world would or even could speak like that?

"Who's the young lass, Jack?" asked Gibbs, watching her scream and kick like a toddler.

"I don't know, and I don't know what she's doing on me pearl, but she looks familiar, does she not?"

"Aye. The offspring of someone with whom an unsettled dispute still remains between ye, and yar death will be at her hands. And that's assuming it's a lass, Jack, most probably a red coat in disguise. Or possibly... Tis Black Beard himself! Raised from the dead, and with a vengeance! And..." Gibbs turned to see that the girl had stopped her tantrum and was now looking at Gibbs, bemused. He lowered his voice slightly and continued. "Or she could be part of the Scottish empire, plotting the cruel and unsightly-"

"The Scottish have an empire?"

"Aye, and they be plotting the cruel and unsightly-"

"I can hear you, you know," said the girl. "And I must say, you do have quite an imagination. A ghastly one, indeed."

"So you've decided to calm down. Good idea. I was on the verge of..." Jack realised that this wasn't the right thing to say, as it only made her scream and kick once again.

"Bugger," said Jack.

Gibbs and Jack watched silently as the girl yelled and punched the ground. Rather childish, even for a child. Eventually, Jack had had enough and unsteadily walked towards the girl and grasped her arm, pulling her up.

"Look, my dislike for having you on this precious vehicle of which I am the captain of is equal to yours, and I probably know about as much as you do about the reason for your being here." Jack strode over towards a rope. "And I don't know about you, but I'm not particularly enjoying your...behaviour." Jack began tying Willow to a mast. "And in my reckoning you'll be far more useful when you're..." Jack pulled the rope into a tight knot, "Tied." Willow struggled against the rope but eventually gave up and pouted.

"Continue sulking, darling. I've got a few things I need cleared up and you'll be doing the clearing."

"Well that isn't fair. Why can't YOU do the clearing?"

"...What would you like cleared up?"

"Uh, well... I think you can start with the floor."

"The floor?"

"Yes, start with the floor. Chop chop. I want to be able to see my face in it." Willow ordered, looking at the floor with disgust.

"Clearing something up is a figure of speech, love. It means I ask the questions and you will answer. My first question is who are you, and the next is where was the last place that you were that you can remember, and the next is can you return to that place, and if not I would happily escort you."

"None of your business, home, no and please do."

"Where exactly is..home?"

"I have four."

"Lovely. Which is the closest to Tortuga, where we are heading?"

"TORTUGA? But that's the place where pirates roam, the place where filth would call it home, the place where fools would be content, the place where gamblers always went, the place where you should never go, stay away from Tortuga, Willow!"

"What?"

"It's a rhyme that my mother made for me."

"And is your name by any chance... Willow?"

Willow rubbed her nose.

"No…what would make you think that? Ha..ha... That's funny... I'm amused now...ha..ha..my name is the opposite of Willow...obviously..how foolish are you..."

"So your name is Willow. You know...your mother seems to be giving you a bad impression of pirates..." Jack looked into Willow's eyes, but saw someone else's. "...but she's spent a lot of time with pirates in the past. She fell in love with one." Willow frowned then laughed.

"Nonsense," she scoffed. "The only man my mother ever loved was my father, William Turner." She smiled proudly.

"So it is confirmed," Jack said.

"What is?" asked Willow, but Jack ignored her and started pacing unsteadily.

"I don't see why I must be burdened with you," Jack muttered. "If she's going to give me a bad name..."

"Who?"

"Elizabeth."

"You know my mother?"

"I know your mother better than you do."

"But…what…how?"

Jack was about to continue pacing when he heard a squark. He turned around to see a bird.

"Parrot," said Jack. The parrot flew over to him.

"Cotton's parrot," Jack noted. "What do you want?" The parrot lifted its left leg. Tied to it were two pieces of parchment. He ripped them both off the leg and shooed the parrot away. The first one said 'Willow' on it. Jack was about to read it when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"I believe that's for me," said a high pitched voice making him jump.

"Aargh, er, yeah." Annoyed, he tossed the letter at Willow.

"Wait, how did you get untied?" he asked. Willow nodded towards Borris and began to read.

"She's scary," whispered Borris as an explanation for untying the rope. Jack looked at the next letter. This one said: 'Jack'. Curious.

Jack,

Do your job. Keep her out of harm's way. He's after me. She has it. He thinks I have it. Not safe to keep in contact. He killed Elizabeth.

WT

AN: Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it. Please tell me if I should continue in a review. Thank ye.