My first PoTC story! Dude, if this is bad....no! Happy thoughts!

I don't own anything except Maribelle, and the Cutlass Crow. Plzthnx! review!

"A pirate?" a little girl scoffed, standing with her hands on her hips. "You couldn't be a pirate! It's just...you're joking, aren't you?"

Eight-year-old Jack Sparrow looked at the girl, wrinkling his nose in confusion. "I'm not kidding, Maribelle! What's so funny about being a pirate?"

"Nothing," she said, shrugging and cocking her head to the side. "But you're too short to be a pirate. I could be a pirate though," she added, running over to the rope swing tied to a large oak tree.

Jack Sparrow and Maribelle Winthrop lived in an orphanage- -a grungy old place that they couldn't wait to get away from. Neither of them liked any of the other children, only each other. They often played pirates, jumping off of tree limbs and into the water, and sword fighting with sticks off of trees. Of course, Maribelle often ended up getting a small whipping every day for the rips she made in her dress.

"You really ought to go play with the other girls," Mrs. Bickstrom, the matron, would always say. "That boy is no good for a pleasant young lady as yourself."

Of course, Maribelle had no desire to be thought of as a 'pleasant young lady', and went right on playing pirates with Jack, ripping the hems of her dresses, and paying her dues for her recklessness and unladylike behavior.

Still, it was something of a surprise when Jack told Maribelle that he actually wanted to be a pirate. "What do you know about being a pirate, anyway?" she asked. "I taught you everything that you know! Do you expect me to teach you more?"

"Maybe you're teaching me the wrong stuff," Jack snapped back. "I'm going to learn how to be a real pirate." Maribelle rolled her eyes.

"I am teaching you the real thing." She said, flipping her long brown hair arrogantly. "My father was pirate. That's how he died."

"You don't remember that," Jack snapped. "You can't. How long have you been here?"

"Only two years!" Maribelle yelled back. "I'm not like those other girls in there! I'm not here just because my father wanted a son instead of me. He died on a real pirate ship!"

Now, Jack was completely mesmerized. "Well, what happened, then?" he goaded, desperate for her to continue her story. Maribelle looked thrilled to finally be able to tell the story.

"I lived on a pirate ship for as long as I can remember," she said dreamily. "One night, another ship came to my father's- -he was captain of a ship called the Cutlass Crow. He sent me off with his first mate in a rowboat, and as we rowed away...my father's ship exploded. He was supposed to some after me and bring me back as soon as the fight was over, and they had found a safe place to make berth, but I knew...I knew that he couldn't anymore." She looked downward and kicked at the dirt on the ground with her toe. "That's all."

"Your father was a real pirate?" Jack yelled ecstatically. "That's it, then! You can teach me everything, and then we'll have our own ship!"

"We can't both be captain," Maribelle said matter-of-factly. "One of us would kill the other."

"Then we'll have two ships!" Jack said excitedly. Maribelle smiled widely.

"Two ships?" she asked. "Both as big the other, all plunder split down the middle. Do we have an accord?"

"What?" Jack said, cocking his head in confusion.

"Just say 'Aye,"" Maribelle said, shaking her head in exasperation. "It means you get it."

One Year Later

"Maribelle, could you come inside for a second?" Mrs. Bickstrom called from the window as Maribelle and Jack were playing outside as usual. Maribelle's head turned from where she stood, her "sword" pointed right at Jack's neck.

"But I'm winning!" she protested.

"This is more important than your silly game!" Mrs. Bickstrom said, "Come in here!" Maribelle squealed loudly in complaint as she came running through the door.

Once she entered Mrs. Bickstrom's office, she found that she was not only facing the old, pleasant-faced matron of the orphanage, but also a young couple, maybe of about twenty-five years each. Maribelle cocked her head at them.

"Oh, Maribelle!" Mrs. Bickstrom laughed, sweeping the girl in a hearty embrace. "You're going to have a nice family to stay with! Isn't that wonderful?"

"Them?" Maribelle asked. "Aye, they look sweet, Mrs. Bickstrom, but they don't look like their backs are strong enough to handle both me and Jack."

"Oh, no, dear," Mrs. Bickstrom said. "I never said Jack would be coming with you. You'll be going on your own."

"But..." she began quietly, "Jack and I were supposed to be pirates together, and split the plunder, and- -"

"My dear girl," said the young man, "I'm Mr. Callum, and this is my wife. We think you're a wonderful girl, and we just want for you to live with us. We're sorry you can't bring your friend with you, but think of this!"

"It will be an adventure," the young woman said. "Once you have your things ready, you'll sail with us to an island in the Caribbean! I think that's the place for you, my girl, much more so than stuffy old England."

"The Caribbean?" Maribelle asked in awe. "The real Caribbean? With islands, and pirates, and all of that?" The couple nodded, smiling sweetly. Maribelle looked at Mrs. Bickstrom, then out the window at Jack, who was practicing using a tree branch as a sword.

He'll learn how to be a pirate by himself, she thought, I taught him enough, anyway. Besides, when I'm old enough, I'll be a pirate too, and then we'll do everything we said we would.

"I'll go," Maribelle concluded. "When do we leave?"

"Tonight, in an hour or two," Mr. Callum announced. Maribelle flinched, but nodded.

"I'll pack your things," Mrs. Bickstrom nodded, "You go play with your friend for you last hour, hm?" Maribelle nodded again, then ran back outside.

"What did they call you in there for?" Jack asked. "You didn't get a whipping already, did you?" Maribelle shook her head. "Well, then what for?"

"I'm leaving tonight," Maribelle said, quickly and simply. "There's a man and a lady in there who told me to come with them."

"WHAT?" Jack snapped. "You can't leave! What about our ships? What about- -"

"The Caribbean can't be that big!" Maribelle said. "Once we're old enough, we'll have our own ships, and then we'll go find each other."

"Why couldn't you just tell them to take me too?" Jack asked.

"They can't!" Maribelle said. "They barely look like they can handle ONE child! But both of US? We'd kill them!"

"They're rich, aren't they?" Jack snapped back. "You're going to go with them, plunder their mansion or something, and just keep it all from me."

"FINE!" Maribelle yelled back. "Maybe I don't want to a pirate with you anymore! I'll just do it on my own!"

"Maribelle, don't say that," Jack said, eyebrows furrowing.

"Why not?" she said, tears starting to gather behind her eyes. "You don't want to be friends with me anymore, so I'll just go!"

"I didn't mean it," Jack muttered. Maribelle just looked at him sadly.

"You'll be a good pirate without me, you know," she said. "You'll be the most feared pirate in the entire ocean. Just you wait."

"You'll always be better than me," Jack admitted grumpily.

"True," Maribelle laughed, "But some things just can't be helped. Here," She took the red bandanna out of her hair and handed it to him. "Every real pirate has one," she shrugged. "I've got tons more anyway."

Jack took it from her hand, then looked at her hair. Her wild hair was bedecked in the front with a small wooden bead and Oriental coins. She looked like a real pirate.

"Can you teach me one more thing before you need to leave?" Jack asked.

"Sure," Maribelle said right away, "What is it?"

"Teach me how to kiss," Jack said with a toothy grin, "Every good pirate needs to know how."

"You're not serious!" Maribelle laughed, but Jack just nodded. Maribelle shrugged, and leaned forward, pecking him quickly on the lips. "I don't know how either."

"Well," Jack said, "One day, I'll know how. I'll do it much better than you."

"Better than me?" Maribelle laughed. "That'll be the day."