Disclaimer:  I still do not own PoTC.  If I had that much money, then perhaps I would.

AN:  okay, here it is.  The story that I had given you a small preview to.  I hope that you'll like it just as much as my other fanfic, Sui Generis. 

Oil Pastel: in answer to your question, yes I will continue to write and post Sui Generis.  I will post each story as soon as they are written.

Ashes to Ashes

Chapter 1: Pirates

            The sound of swords clashing together echoed through the half-empty streets of Port Royal.  The two fighters are not who you would expect.  One is a young man of perhaps twenty.  A man who has seen what the world is really like.  He has lived an adventure, more than most men see in a lifetime, and lived to tell the tale of it.  Although it is a story that he does not care to talk about, a story about betrayal, mutiny, and curses.  But it is also a story about love.

            The second is a young woman of the same age.  Although she has not experienced an adventure yet in her life, her spirit is filled with a longing for excitement and for a way out of her boring life.  She is a Lady, a woman raised among the rich.  A woman raised to merely be an appendage on her husbands arm.  Her story has only just begun.

            The woman sidestepped slowly, her feet moving underneath her skirts, the hems of her dress trailing along the dusty ground.  She swung her sword quickly, only to be parried by the man that she practiced against.  He stepped to her left quickly and pushed against her sword, making her step back.

            "You will have to do better than that if you meet up with a pirate, Miss O'Shannon," he said, grinning slightly.

            With a sudden act of aggression, she lunged at him, and twirled her sword around his, entangling the tip of her sword into the handle of his.  She pulled up, wrenching his sword from his hand.  The sword flew into the air and she caught it as it fell back down.  She held the two swords against him, the tip of one sword resting against his heart, and the other brushing against his throat.

            "I assure you, Mr. Turner," she replied, her voice taking on its faint Irish accent.  "If I do meet up with a pirate, he will not stand a chance."

            Will laughed.  "I believe that, Miss O'Shannon, but just remember, pirates show no mercy.  You have to strike faster, think faster, then they can, or else you will pay with your life."

            "Of course, Mr. Turner," she replied.  "And please, don't call me 'Miss O'Shannon'.  It is too formal.  We are friends, are we not?"

            Will gave a shy smile.  "We are new friends.  You have known Elizabeth far longer than you have known me."

            "I am aware of that.  But still, as a friend, will you please call me Ashleigh?"

            "I do not . . ." he started.

            "Oh you are much too proper.  If you do not wish to call me by my first name in public, will you at least do it in private company?"

            Will watched her as she talked.  She had been playing with the sword that he had loaned her, balancing it across her finger, watching as it stayed perfectly still.  Ashleigh flipped the sword into the air, and then caught it at its tip, holding the sword out to Will.  He took the sword from her and placed it back in its proper place on the wall.

            "These are beautiful swords, Will.  But why so many?"

            Will ran his fingers down the sword that he had just placed on the wall.  "There was a time when all I could do was make these swords in hopes that I would make enough money to win Elizabeth's heart.  I practiced with them as well, trying to make myself seem better in her eyes.  But a recent event has changed all of that."

            "You had no idea how she felt about you?  She never told you?" Ashleigh asked, cocking her head to one side.  "How odd."

            "Odd?  Why is it odd?"

            She looked him in the eyes.  "Elizabeth wrote to me every month.  She would write about various things, but mostly she wrote about you, and what you had done, what you had said.  Then, when she told me that you had proposed, I knew I had to come and meet you.  She had always seemed so much in love with you, even despite her father's wishes." 

            Will gave her an odd look, one that told her that he had never heard about any of what she had been saying.  Ashleigh rolled her eyes.  "Oh Lord.  If you tell her that I told you this, she'll have my hide.  Then I will come for yours."

            "Of course not.  I won't tell her.  But why would she not tell me?"

            Ashleigh shrugged.  "She has always been a shy girl.  Sort of.  So maybe she was just afraid that if she told you, you would not return her affections."

            A sudden knock on the door interrupted them.  The large wooden door opened slowly to reveal a nervous Elizabeth.  Will looked at her for a moment, and then ran to her side.  "Elizabeth!  What's wrong?  Are you okay?"

            "I . . . um . . . I was told that there is a ship heading for Port.  Its flying pirate colors, Will.  And it's not the Pearl."

            "Norrington will handle it, Elizabeth.  You do not need to worry.  There is no pirate ship in the Caribbean that he can't handle."

            "No, Will.  This ship is said to be faster than the Pearl and much more dangerous.  Father says that Norrington has ordered everyone into their homes.  He wants no one to get hurt.  We should . . ."

            Her sentence was shortened as a series of loud explosions sounded in the port.  Elizabeth covered her ears and sank to her knees, Will covering her body with his as small debris fell down from the ceiling.  He turned his eyes to Ashleigh and gestured to the swords on the wall.  Nodding, she ran over to the wall and picked three swords from it, one of them being the sword that Will had practiced with earlier.

            She walked over to her two friends quickly and handed Will a sword, she started to hand one to Elizabeth, but he shook his head.  "No.  If we get separated, or if we lose you during this battle, I want you to find a way to Tortuga.  If we do not meet you there, then I want you to find someone.  He goes by the name of Sparrow.  Find him, give him the sword, tell him what has happened, and he will help you."

            Ashleigh started to ask why when the door to the smithy burst open, revealing a group of roughly dressed men.  Two of the men were missing several of their teeth, and one had a scar running across his nose and cheeks.  Ashleigh's eyes hardened at the sight of the pirates and she raised her two swords slightly.  One of the pirates laughed. 

            "In't this a pretty picture.  C'mon mates, looks like we've found our booty.  The Cap'n only wants the Turner lad and the Swann lass.  Do what ever ya want with the other one," the man with the scar said.

            Will stood up quickly, raising his sword to eye level.  "You will have to go through me to get to them."

            The first pirate laughed cruelly and pulled out his pistol.  As Will watched, the pirate cocked it and then pulled the trigger.  Elizabeth screamed as the bullet struck him in his shoulder, a patch of blood starting to form on his white shirt.  He stared down at the wound, and then crumpled to his knees, the pain becoming too much for him.  When she tried to run to him, the second pirate, one of the ones with missing teeth, smacked her in her face, knocking her unconscious instantly from the force of his blow.

            Ashleigh watched as a third pirate started to drag Will out of the smithy, and as another toothy pirate picked up Elizabeth and carried her out of the shop.  "No," she whispered.  "No!  Leave them alone you monsters!"

            She ran at the first pirate, her swords held up in front of her.  Without warning, her skirts tangled themselves around her legs, and she fell to the dusty floor on her hands and knees, the fabric of her dress ripping.  She could hear the pirate laughing as he walked over to her.

            "Aren't ye a stupid lass?  'At's what ya get fer tryin' ta fight us.  Now be a good lass and jus' stop tryin' ta 'elp yer friends.  We's jus gonna beat ya anyway."

            "No," she whispered, struggling to pick herself up off the floor.

            The pirate shook his head slowly, and then kicked her in her stomach, knocking the air out of her lungs.  She flipped over onto her back from the force of the kick, struggling to regain her lost breath.  He shook his head again, and once more kicked her, only this time he aimed for her forehead.  The blow sent her rolling on the floor, the force of it knocking her unconscious immediately.

            He leaned over her slightly, looking her up and down slowly.  "Ya shoulda listened ta me lass," he said.  He stood up straight again, and pulled a worn piece of paper from his jacket pocket.  He dropped it, letting the thin sheet float down onto her chest.  Then, with a laugh, he turned and followed his comrades out into the ruined port.

            On the paper that lay on Ashleigh's rising and falling chest, was a picture of a sparrow flying over water, a horizon hiding behind it.

AN: Ah.  Another chapter to another story done.  I hope you liked it.  Next:  Tortuga.  We'll see what happens when Ashleigh goes to Tortuga and meets up with a certain pirate Captain that we all know and love.

Plz r/r!!!!!!