The Tides of Time
DISCLAIMER: The only character that I own in this story is Camille. The POTC Characters belong to Disney and the rest not in there are owned by Angel Dean! She kindly let me use them as our characters are sisters. Enjoy! It probably will never be finished.
Though being a Dutch ship, the Cursed Flower was known through out the Caribbean, a long with its captain. He was a large man, with a mighty presence about him. A fancy hat was always atop of his long black hair; his dark brown eyes would strike fear anyone he faced. Many a men would have recall having nightmares, terror brought on solely by the memory of him staring coldly into their eyes, his richly oriented coat flapping in the wind.
He had been married once, to a Dutch woman. Her name was Vera, and at one time she had been the most beautiful woman that Jack had ever seen. She had the most beautiful blue eyes, only rivaled by the beautiful blue of his precious ocean. Her long blond hair reminded him of the sandy beaches along the bays of the Caribbean islands. Such as like the sandy beach where they had shared their first kiss. Yes, oh how he had loved her so much. Nevertheless, the happiness had not lasted very long.
A few years into the marriage, she began to reveal her true self. She had once been attracted to the fact that he was a pirate, a bad boy, but now that was the very thing that caused her to despise him. They had already had two children by this time and it had been after the birth of their youngest that these things began to surface. Perhaps it was the fact that the child had been born with her father's same brown eyes instead of her beautiful blue, either way she not only despised her pirate husband but the infant as well.
As soon as the child could be weaned from her, she announced in the middle of the night that she was going to go back to the Netherlands and take their oldest daughter with them. She told Jack that she hated him, that she had never loved him, and that her true love was back at home. The entire thing crushed Jack's heart; his entire world seemed to be crashing down around him. At least he was left with his youngest, but he did wonder how he was going to raise a girl out here on the ocean by himself, surrounded by nothing but pirates.
The years had gone by; though he never forgot his wife and oldest daughter, the heartache had subsided quite substantially. Much of it could be contributed to the intake of rum to numb his mind when it had grown to be too painful, but even more than that was his responsibility to the one he had left.
He refused to let her suffer unduly more than she already had. Surprisingly to those around him, but much more to himself, he had done a fine job raising her. Camille had grown into such a beautiful young woman, she had, and was in every aspect a lady if he did so himself. She had his brown eyes but there was a likeness in them that had made them all of her own. There was not the fear striking nature that was so prominent with her father, but more of a very intriguing mysteriousness. The hair was that of her mother, something that would always haunt him.
As she had grown, the men in the crew's eyes began to wonder, something that had not been missed by her father. He would have given them seventy lashes for even gawking at her, but he knew most likely that would lead to mutiny. So instead, he would just give them his famous bone-chilling stare. It most of the time did work; their attention was quickly adverted elsewhere.
His little girl was his princess, and he had promised himself she would not be given to any many who was not a prince himself. That was certainly not going to be found among pirates and certainly not among his crew. He knew them very well and none of them deserved to even speak to her let alone have her hand in marriage. Though most of the ones who had been aboard for a number of years already knew this, the new ones were unaware of this. Usually they would have to find out for themselves but sometimes older crewmembers would warn them.
Little did Jack Dean know that among the crew that had been picked up in the town of Portobello, despite being warned to stay away from the Captain's daughter, to not even look upon her, a young man's interest had already peaked. Nevertheless, he kept his interest silent, hiding the looks and glances whenever someone would likely notice. As far as he knew, she did not even notice his existence.
Victor Ragetti had been born in a dirty shack in the town of Portobello. His mother was a prostitute and his father, well all he knew was the surname that was given him. If that was really his father's name was not known, it may have just been the name of one of his mother's favorite customers. He was a tall lad, tall and skinny. He looked as though he never had a morsel of food in his life, but he on the contrary had a very healthy appetite. He was a bit mad to say the least, his blue eyes showing that madness, along with an often seen maniacal grin or a confused look. Although he may have been daft, he was not as unintelligent as many saw him; his mind just worked differently…he was so often deep in his own thoughts.
His acceptance aboard the Flower had been for him a promise of a new and better life. Of course, he knew it was not going to be like living like a Lord but it would beat the life he had been living. He still had been living with his mother in the same shack where he had been born. By then he had a stepfather, who of course was more than approving of his mother's choice of career, he encouraged it in fact. Victor despised the man, despised everything about him. Why could he not have encouraged her to stop, to be a better woman…to be a better mother? She had not been any kind of mother at all, not really.
Hard labor was something that he had grown used to; he had to bring an income for his family as well. His stepfather cared more about money then being a family. The only family that Victor had grown to care about was an uncle who sporadically would come to visit when the time allowed. He was a pirate, a life that sounded so exciting to young Victor. Often times when he was a child he would play pirates with his mates after school. While they played as pirates of well known he of course would always play as his uncle. Even though his uncle would hardly acknowledge his presence at times, he worshiped to the ground he walked on.
The day that Captain Jack Dean had been come in looking for new crew, he had been sent to the market to buy a few a things for the dinner that night. His mother was of course too busy to buy them herself. All the vegetables looked the same to him, how was he supposed to know what was what? The frustration caused his mind to wonder, his feet followed. Soon he found himself in the tavern, a place he would often go so he could hear the stories of the pirates who were traveling through and had stop to wet their whistle, among other things. He also would come to see if he could perhaps come across his uncle. He had been successful at that no more than about 2 to 3 times since he had started, and that was years ago.
This time was one of the other times where he had not had success. It saddened him that he had not been there, but the sadness did not last long. His uncle may have not been there but there was a pirate just as intriguing. Victor stood there in awe of the man with his strong presence, and he was not the only one. Jack Dean…he had heard of that name before. He was supposed to be perhaps one of the greatest pirates to ever sail the seven seas, if not the greatest. Could he have heard right, was he looking for men to join his crew? This was too good to be true; certainly he would not accept a lad like him aboard, would he?
A normally very reserved shy boy, it was almost as Victor found himself watching himself hurry over to the table to sign up. There was only a moments hesitation as he stood in line, what about his family? To blazes with them! He thought to himself. The only reason they would notice him gone is he's not there to do anything for him. Oh, but his uncle. The thought that he may never see him again was an extremely sad one, but he had to push it out of his mind, this would be in honor of him. He had been the one to inspire him to do so.
He found himself feeling very anxious as he found himself next in line. Uh oh, he had to sign his name. How did you spell his name anyway? He frowned as he picked up the pen. There had to be a damn catch, there always was. He looked at the captain sadly as he tried to stammer something out. It had been as if the Captain had been able to read his mind, because he sure couldn't have deciphered the stammers.
He let out a laugh and waved his hand over the paper. "Just mark an X, and tell us yer name. We can write it beside it for ye."
Victor eyes widened with excitement as he leaned down and put an X on the paper. "Th-thank ye sir." He stammered out, he was so excited he had to think to remember his own name. But he did remember. "Ragetti, Victor Ragetti." He stated proudly. I'm a pirate now. Oh, how good did that thought sound? He could hardly believe it. Little did he know that while expecting that this would be an adventure, the next few years would be an adventure that he could not even imagine? For one, the man who had been so nice to him would not always be so nice; he wouldn't even always be his ally. But that was long off.