Disclaimer: I don't own POTC, I don't own Ragetti. More's the pity.

"I didn't know you could read, mate."

"I couldn't. But she taught me."

"Have fun!"

"We'll be back for you in the morning!"

Ragetti pummelled his fists on the door. "Wait! Wait!"

He heard his friend, Pintel, chuckling. "Just one night, mate. Don't worry, we picked you out a good one."

Ragetti tried to open the door. "Let me out!"

There was laughter. "See ya in the morning, mate! Tell us how she was!"

"But I don't want... to..." But his friends' voices were fading into the distance, already being covered up by the noise of Tortuga. Soon, all Ragetti could hear was the normal night noises of the pirate town: gunshots, screams, laughter and drunken singing.

Ragetti bashed a door a few more times before sliding down and sitting on the floor. Some friends they were. 'Ere, mate, you look like you need some pleasurable company. Don't worry, we'll get you sorted. He didn't want pleasurable company. He just wanted some time alone for once. Why did everyone always pick on him? 'Sides, he didn't know anything about women.

"So you too, huh?"

Ragetti looked up. In the dim light of the small room, he saw a girl sitting in the opposite corner, her arms folded protectively around her. She watched him, suspiciously.

"What?" He asked.

The girl flicked a hand, pointing to the door behind Ragetti. "Your 'friends' dump you here too?"

Ragetti nodded. "They said I needed..." He stopped, and mumbled, "Pleasurable company."

The girl's expression didn't change. "Well, my friends said that a girl's not a woman till she loses her maidenhead." Her mouth twisted. "So they locked me in here, and told me they were getting me a man." Ragetti saw that there had been tears running down the girl's face, but she wasn't crying anymore. "So we're both the victims here, I guess."

Ragetti nodded, and rubbed his eye. His wooden eye. "So you don't want to... uh..." He fumbled for the words, and blushed bright pink. "Do it?" The girl shook her head savagely, and Ragetti grinned, relieved. "Me either. No offence, miss, its jus'..."

The corners of her lips lifted slightly. "Yeah, I know..." The girl sounded relieved herself. "Well, the room isn't being unlocked until morning, and we can't really sit like this for twelve hours, can we?"

Ragetti shrugged. "Well..." He looked around the small room. Aside from a desk with two chairs and an uncomfortable-looking bed, there was nothing else in the room. "What should we do?"

This time, the girl shrugged. "Aside from read and play with the candles, I can't think of anything."

Ragetti looked up. "Read?"

"Yeah," the girl said. "My father runs the bookshop in Port-Au-Prince. When my 'friends' said they were going to take me on a 'holiday', I brought a bag of books along." She curled into a tighter ball. "They're kind of wasted here, though, in this hole of a place."

Ragetti started to stand up. The girl shrunk back a little, nervously.

"You can read?" He asked.

She nodded, hesitantly.

"Could you teach me?"

She blinked. "You don't know how to read?"

Ragetti shook his head. "I'm a pirate, see, and there's not really much call fer readin', bein' a pirate an' all. But all the rest of the crew can, and I want t' learn too." He paused, then remembered his manners. "Please?"

The corners of girl's lips curled upwards again, and she slowly stood up. "I don't know if I could teach you to read in one night, but I guess I could teach you the basics." She quickly stood up, and winced, clamping a hand on her stomach. "Bloody corsets." She gasped and swore.

Ragetti found himself staring at the girl. She wasn't the most attractive girl that Tortuga had to offer, maybe because she wasn't wearing makeup. Her hair was loose, and flowed freely down her shoulders in long black curls. Her green velvet dress was obviously borrowed - it was a size too small, and seemed to emphasise all the parts of the girl's body that she didn't want - or need - emphasised. The girl didn't seem like anything special. A plain Jane. She seemed a little overweight, but not so that it would make her seem unattractive.

Ragetti blushed, and looked away quickly.

The girl put an old burlap bag on the desk and reverently unpacked it. Ragetti stared, this time at the bag's contents. He'd seen books before. He'd even stolen a few from richer ships. Most of the time they ended up as fuel for the kitchen fires. But these books were different. They weren't gilt-engraved and they didn't have leather covers. They were just paper and parchment, worn and dog-eared.

The girl sat down at the desk, and turned to face Ragetti. "Here," she said, picking up book with a red cover. "This one first."

Ragetti came over, a little embarrassed and uneasy. The girl seemed the same way, and she moved her chair over a little as Ragetti sat down.

"So you're a pirate." She said, she flicked through the book, trying to find a certain page. "Do you have a name... pirate?"

"Ragetti." He said. The girl looked up, trying to smile at him, and her eyes locked on his wooden eye. She stared for a few minutes, then quickly turned away. Ragetti's hand flew to his eye. Did it scare her? Many people were put off by it. But it was a part of him now. Naught could be done about it.

"Ah, here." She stammered, then slid the book across to Ragetti. "Do you at least know the alphabet?"

Ragetti looked at the book. Shapes were on the page. He recognised some of them. "A." He pointed, running his finger along the page. "B, C, D, E..." He stopped.

"F." The girl prompted.

Ragetti shrugged. "I only know the first five." He held up his hand and pointed to a finger at a time. "A, B, C, D, E." He smiled a little. "Pinters taught me that."

The girl nodded, "Well, then I'll have to teach you the rest... Ragetti." She stressed his name, as though it were the most exotic-thing she'd ever said. Ragetti liked the way she said his name. Made him sound special.

Ragetti looked at the girl again. "What's your name? You never told me."

"Carla-Esmeralda." She said, blushing slightly. "My father likes exotic-sounding names. He spends too much time with his books, really. Just call me Carla." She pointed to the letters, eager to change the subject. "G, H, I..."

Ragetti found himself picking up the letters quickly. After he'd said the alphabet twice without Carla's help, she smiled appraisingly at him. "You're good at this."

Ragetti smiled, blushing. "That... that wasn't so 'ard." The girl turned the page. Ragetti stared at the pictures. "'S a pirate ship!" He said, pointing.

Carla nodded, then pointed to a word above the prow. "Ship. S-H-I-P."

Ragetti's normal eye lit up. "So the letters make words! And the things we say, they can be written down?"

She nodded, and laughed. "You're catching on fast."

Ragetti pointed to the flag, and tried to sound out the letters before looking at the label. "Ffff... Laaa-guh... F-L-A-G?" He checked the label, then looked at Carla. She was beaming at him. Ragetti grinned back, then returned his gaze to the book. "Starboard. S-T-A-R-B-O-R-D."

"That's where the English language gets a little tricky." The girl said, leaning over to point at the page. "See? There's an A in there. S-T-A-R-B-O-A-R-D."

Both Ragetti and Carla suddenly realised their shoulders were touching, and they both quickly pulled away, pinking. For a moment, neither of them spoke.

"So, um, yes." Carla picked up, lamely, "Sometimes there's an extra letter in there, but if you sound it out carefully, you can hear it."

Ragetti concentrated on the words in his book, clumsily spelling them out loud. And Carla would either praise or gently correct, but both the girl and the pirate were careful not to get too close again.

Ragetti slowly, gradually, read through the book. As he waded through the pages, he became conscious that Carla had one of the other books open, and was reading from it herself. So the pirate stopped, and looked over.

There were no pictures in this one. It was only words. But Carla's eyes were glued to the words, skimming over them at great speed.

"What you readin'?" Ragetti asked, curious.

Carla looked up, a little guiltily. "It... it's nothing special, really. Just a book I've had since I was a little girl." She closed the book, and held it up so Ragetti could read the cover.

"Troy." Ragetti said, reading it aloud. "And Other Greek... maiths and leggends."

"Myths and Legends." Carla smiled gently. She put the book down, and smoothed her fingers over the cover. "I've had this book since I was very young." She smiled, lost in memory. "I was going to give it to my brother." She opened the inside cover. 'To Thomas, love Carla' was written in gentle sloping handwriting.

"Where is your brother?" Ragetti asked. "Is 'e back at Port-Au-Prince?"

Carla sighed. "He's dead. He died a few years ago." She stared down at the book. "He was only four."

Ragetti looked down. "I'm sorry."

Carla smiled sadly. "No, its... it's alright." She shook her head and closed the book, smoothing her fingers over the cover once again. "At least I got to read him one story from this book before he died."

Ragetti flipped the pages back until he reached the inside cover. 'To Thomas, love Carla' was also written in this one. He looked at the girl, who was looking sadly down at the book in her hands. "Wh..." He took a deep breath and tried again. He really wasn't good at this comforting stuff. "Which story did you read to him?"

Carla looked up. "Oh, I read him the story about the Trojan War." She smiled. "Not exactly bedtime reading for a child, but still..."

"Could you read it to me?" Ragetti asked. Oh, if the others could see him now. Asking for bedtime stories from a girl he was too afraid to sleep with? They would never let him live this one down.

Carla looked at him, then to the book in her hands. She bit her lip for a moment, then nodded. "Sure," she said, "Why not? It'll help with your reading, right?" She smiled gently, and opened the book. She slid it between them, and read aloud. And Ragetti followed the words with his one good eye. But in his mind, he saw the story come to life.

Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, the suave and decadent young prince Paris, the cunning and secretive Odysseus, the great Greek warrior Achilles, the Trojan prince and hero Hector... these characters and more, all played their roles as the story unfolded. Ragetti found himself almost hypnotised by Carla's voice. She had the voice of a great storyteller - every word was lyrical, and held the pirate's attention. And as she read, Ragetti's (both real and metaphorically speaking) eyes were opened - the words on the page were finally making sense. He could read! He could read!

"And after all the Trojans had fallen into a drunken slumber, the Greeks inside the wooden horse burst out and opened the gates for the Greek soldiers waiting outside. Troy had finally fallen." Carla looked up, and found Ragetti staring at her. "What?"

"How'd you do that?" He asked, awed. "It's like I can see the things 'appening in me 'ead! It's not jus' words on a page anymore... is like it's real!"

She shut the book with a small smile. "Father said I have a natural gift for storytelling." She smiled again. "Someday, I'm going to be a writer, and my stories will be told all over the world." She smiled, then stifled a yawn.

"You tired?" Ragetti asked, kindly.

Carla rubbed her eyes. "A little." She smiled. "It's nothing."

Ragetti bit his lip, and looked around. "'Ow about," he suggested, "You get some shut-eye, an' I keep readin'?"

Carla looked over at the bed, then back to Ragetti. "Are you sure?" She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "You won't try anything funny?"

Ragetti shook his head. "On me oath as a pirate, I swear all I's is goin' t' do is read." He held up his hand in solemnity. Carla tried to hold back a smile.

"Alright then." She said. She handed Ragetti the book about myths and legends, and then pushed the other ones towards him. "If there's a word you don't get, just wake me up. Ok?"

Ragetti nodded, smiling faintly. Carla smiled back, then went over and lay down on the bed. Within minutes, she was fast asleep.

Ragetti rose to his feet and grabbed all the candles he could find. He wanted all the light to read by. These books, these words... he wanted to read. He wanted to see the stories inside. He wanted to... to...

He looked over at Carla. "Thankye," he whispered, then dove straight into the book. Starting with the story of Troy.

It was sometime before dawn when Ragetti gently woke up Carla. She rubbed her eyes sleepily, and jumped at seeing Ragetti... before remembering where she was.

"Oi," he said, holding a book up to her, "What's that word say?"

She blinked. "Shakespeare." She looked up at him. "He wrote this story. Romeo and Juliet. It's a play."

Ragetti smiled, looking back at the book. "Oh, so that's why it's all written funny. 'S diff'rent to the other books."

Carla got up went over to the desk. "How many have you read?"

Ragetti grinned sheepishly. "All of them, jus' about." All eight, including Romeo and Juliet. He just didn't know what a Shakespeare was, that's all.

Carla turned to face Ragetti, smiling. "I'm impressed, pirate." She was holding the book about Troy. "You've learnt to read in one night."

"Jus' about." Ragetti said, blushing. "I can't read as fast as you do, but I'm tryin'."

"But you learn quickly." She smiled.

He tilted his head at her. "Why you doin' this? Why would you teach me t' read?"

She shrugged and looked down at the book in her hands. "No reason. Just to kill time, I guess."

"But ye red a story t' me." Ragetti said, coming over. He put Romeo and Juliet down on the table. "Why?"

She laughed softly. "I don't know." She couldn't meet his eyes. "I guess... there's something about you... that's different... to other men I've met..." She sighed. "You actually listened to the story. Like it mattered." She laughed suddenly.

"What's so funny?" Ragetti asked.

"It's just..." She ran her thumbs over the cover, keeping her eyes down. "It's just..." She looked up, and smiled faintly. "I didn't think a pirate would be interested in stories."

Ragetti smiled back. "I didn't think anyone would ever be int'risted in readin' them t' me."

"You know," she laughed, "You're the nicest pirate I've ever met, Ragetti." She looked down again, still smiling. "And believe me, I've met a few." Her smile faded. "A few too many."

"Thankye," Ragetti mumbled. "Fer the stories... fer not laughing at me... fer bein'... bein' nice t' me."

"You're welcome." Carla laughed, and gave him a playful shove. "Now, get out of here. Hurry, before your friends get suspicious. Go on..." She smiled. "Ragetti."

Again, the lyrical, poetic way she said his name sent him blushing down to the roots of his hair. He turned and stumbled out of the tavern room. And he wandered out onto the docks, a silly smile still plastered on his face.

That was the closest anyone had ever come to saying 'I love you' to him, he thought. And, if he wasn't such a fool and a coward, he might just turn around and say it to Carla. Maybe, the next time he saw her, he might just say it.

Hold up a minute. Ragetti stopped, and blinked. I'm a pirate! he thought. I can't fall in love! What would the others say? And she ain't even a real girl... she's a...a ... bookseller's daughter!

"Hey, mate! There ye are! I've been lookin' all over fer ye!" Ragetti felt his friend slap him on the back. A little too hard.

"Me eye!" Ragetti chased it as it rolled through the cobblestones. Pintel laughed. Ragetti scooped his eye out of the gutter, wiped it on his shirt and jammed it back in his eye socket.

"So, Rags!" Pintel clapped a hand on Ragetti's shoulder, being too short to drape it companionably over his shoulder, "How was the wench last night?"

Ragetti brushed his friend off and stomped away.

"Ay!" Pintel blinked, then ran after his friend, "What's up with you?"

"Nuffin." Ragetti mumbled.

Pintel stepped in front of the lanky pirate. "Come on, mate, what's wrong with ye? I've never seen ye looking like this before."

Ragetti glowered. "Why'd you do that?" He asked, angrily. "Why'd you lock me in there?"

Pintel blinked. "Just a bit o' fun, mate. It was only a joke."

Ragetti snorted and turned away. "Jus' leave me alone for a while. I have t' think."

The pirate raised an eyebrow and watched as Ragetti wandered off, his head down. Pintel shook his head.

"Must've been a bad one then." He mused. Shrugging, he wandered off to find a girl recently off-duty who might be interested in him.

A few minutes later, Pintel was jogging through the streets of Tortuga, looking for Ragetti.

Ragetti looked up, still playing with his knife, as the older pirate came up to him. Pintel smiled feebly.

"Look, mate, I'm sorry about that... what we did yesterday. I really am."

Ragetti looked down at his knife, cleaning under his fingernails. "Why'd ye do things like that?"

Pintel shrugged, looking uncomfortable. "'S only a joke, Rags. We didn't mean no 'arm." He sat down on the crate next to his friend. "Don't be mad with me, mate. Please."

Ragetti thought this over for a minute, then nodded. "Ok. Jus' don't do it again." He smiled shyly, then blinked, his smile vanishing. There was something about Pintel that was different. He looked sad, almost.

"Listen." Pintel said, slowly, "That girl you were with... what she look like?"

Ragetti smiled, thinking of Carla's kindness. "She 'ad long black 'air. Curly 'air. And she was wearin' a green dress." He blushed and looked down. "She was kinda pretty, I guess." He smiled up at his old friend, but Pintel did not smile back.

Pintel was silent for a moment. Then he rose to his feet. "I think you'd better come see this, mate." He said, his eyes down and his voice low.

Ragetti followed Pintel across the docks, through the maze of whores and drunkards, until they reached a little jetty, not far from the tavern where Ragetti and Carla had spent the night. There was a ring of people gathered.

"Out o' the way, you scum!" Pintel barked, "Move aside! Move!" And he shouldered his way through the mass of people. Ragetti followed close behind. What was going on?

And the first person he saw was Carla. And all his questions were answered.

"CARLA!"

She was lying on the dock, her hair splayed around her head like a fan. She looked like she'd tripped and fallen, landing on her back. Her book-bag hung from one shoulder, the books spilling out onto the wooden slats of the jetty. Her arms were splayed, and her legs were bent at strange angles. Her eyes were closed, and her face was pale.

Ragetti pushed past his friend and knelt down beside the girl. "Carla? Carla, are you 'right? Carla?"

No-one said a word, but one sailor removed his hat.

"Carla?" Ragetti picked her up, gently, and held her in his arms. "Carla? It's me, Ragetti. Are you 'right? Carla? Carla?"

Pintel put a hand on Ragetti's shoulder. "I'm sorry, mate. I came as soon as I found out."

But Ragetti wasn't listening. He shook the girl gently. "Carla? Carla, wake up. You dropped your books." He gently cradled the girl's head with one hand and reached to pick up one of her books with the other. It was the book about Troy.

" 'Ere, Carla." He smiled. "You should be more careful. You wouldn't want to lose them. They're special to you, ain't they? Carla?"

The girl said nothing. And she was so cold.

Ragetti dropped the book, and shook Carla again. "Carla, wake up. This ain't funny!" He felt tears welling in his real eye. "This ain't funny! You're not playing a joke, are you? Carla?"

Pintel tried again. "She's dead, mate. I'm sorry."

Ragetti looked up at his friend. "Dead?" He looked down at the girl cradled in his arms. "She can't be dead. She's going t' write stories. She's going t' be a writer. She's goin' t' be famous!"

Someone stifled a sob, and Ragetti looked up. A small gaggle of over-dressed girls, skinny and wearing too much makeup, even by Tortuga standards, stared back, tears streaming down their faces. And Ragetti knew straight away who they were.

Gently placing Carla back on the ground, he stood and drew his sword. The girls pulled back, afraid of the pirate coming towards them. He had murder in his eyes. Even his wooden eye seemed to be glaring at them malevolently.

"You did this!" Ragetti shouted, shaking with fury. "You lied to her! You tricked her!" He couldn't fight it anymore. The tears came pouring down his face. You don't need real eyes to have tear ducts. "You killed her!" he choked, then stepped forward, his sword raised.

But he stopped. Pintel had grabbed his friend's arm.

"That's enough, Rags." Pintel said. "Your girl is dead." He looked over at the scared bunch of young women. "Hurtin' them won't bring her back."

Ragetti continued to snarl and glare at the girls, trying to get free of his friend's grip, even with the tears rolling down his face. "They killed her!"

Pintel shook his head. "Even if they tricked her, and lied to her, you can't bring your lady friend back by killin' them." Pintel's words slowed. "She's gone, Rags. She's dead."

Ragetti stepped back, his sword clattering to the jetty. He walked over to where Carla lay, and picked her up again. He cried into her hair, rocking back and forth, saying her name over and over again. He cried enough tears to raise the tides. But Carla was still unmoving, still quiet, still so cold...

Pintel put a hand on the taller pirate's shoulder. "I'm sorry, mate. I really am." He squeezed Ragetti's shoulder, reassuringly. "You must've thought she was something special to be cryin' over her."

Ragetti sniffed, and looked up. He picked up the book about Troy and opened it at the front cover. And for a moment, he stopped crying.

Along with the message, 'To Thomas, love Carla' there was an extra message, penned quickly. Ragetti read it slowly, his mouth forming the words as he read.

'Dear Ragetti,' the new message read, 'I don't know why I didn't think of this before. I hope I can catch you before you sail out to do whatever it is you pirates do during the day. Think of them as presents - every time you read them, think of me. And this is the closest I'm getting to saying 'I love you'. Read them often, alright? Words are powerful things. Love, Carla.'

Ragetti stared at the book for a few moments, then stared down at Carla's calm pale face.

"Thankye, Carla." He sobbed.

Ragetti felt Pintel's hand squeeze his shoulder again. "Come on, mate. We can't stay here all day." He tried to smile. "I got us a job, y'know. We're going t' be part of a crew aboard a ship!"

Ragetti wiped his tears off Carla's face.

"Some treasure-hunt, I heard." Pintel continued. But his attempts to cheer his friend up were in vain.

Ragetti looked up at his friend. "She's dead, Pinters." He looked back down at Carla. He didn't care who saw. Let them see him crying. It didn't matter anymore. "She was alive a while ago, an' now she's dead."

Pintel bowed his head. "I know, mate. I know. I'm sorry."

Ragetti wiped away his tears, and stood up. Gently, he slid the bag from off of Carla's shoulder and slipped it onto his own. Carla lay quietly on the jetty, unmoving. Unbreathing.

Ragetti went over and picked up his sword from the dock, then turned to the group of girls. "You'd better take her back to Port-Au-Prince." He said sadly, "And give 'er a proper burial." The girls sobbed and nodded.

"Come on, mate." Pintel said, "Let's go. We've only a few hours afore the ship leaves."

Ragetti picked the book of myths and legends off the deck and slipped it into his bag before trailing after his friend.

The sea was whispering against the hull of the ship as it crashed through the water. Ragetti was sitting in his cabin, reading a book by candlelight.

His friend Pintel came into the room. He noticed Ragetti. "Ay, Rags, wot you doin'?"

"Readin'." Ragetti said, not lifting his head from the book.

Pintel came and sat down next to his friend. "You can read? I didn't know you could read, mate."

Ragetti looked up, staring off into the distance, and smiled faintly. "I couldn't." He let a tear fall from his eye. His wooden eye. "But she taught me."

Author's note: This is based on art I found at Deviantart where Pintel teaches Ragetti how to read. However, I thought of something a little more interesting. (Kudos to you deviantartist. I can't quite remember, but I think you're brichan. I could be wrong, but kudos to you)