Jack's Daughter
Chapter One: (aka prologue):
Raina Jacklyn Sparrow was born during a storm on the Black Pearl. Morgan, Raina's mother, died in childbirth, leaving Jack Sparrow with an infant daughter and no knowledge whatsoever about rearing a child. As he mourned his wife's death, he looked down at his new baby daughter and smiled. "You, little one, are truly fearless."
For Raina was not crying. The storm didn't seem to bother her at all. As the lightning flashed and the thunder boomed, Raina Sparrow laughed.
She was brought up as a sailor. Jack always taught her that a ship was "more than just a keel and a hull and a deck", that it was freedom. The crew were her playmates, and they taught her everything about the ship. By the time she was five, she could climb the rigging with ease. Jack, who knew enough about raising a daughter to know that she had to learn how to swim, took her on frequent outings so she could learn. In fact, Raina could swim before she could walk.
Whenever her father took a ship, Raina was told to stay in the cabin. She sat on the bed and listened to the shouts going on outside, cringing whenever a cry of pain was heard. When the fighting was over, Jack would come in and reassure her that everything was all right.
Raina looked just like her father. Her hair was black, and her skin the same tanned color. Only her eyes were different from her father's, for she had inherited the deep green eyes of her mother. At first, Raina kept her hair in braids, to keep it out of her face. But as she got older, she began leaving it out and adding tiny plaits here and there.
Jack was proud of his daughter. Without knowing it, he had brought her up with a good sense of right and wrong. He taught her to be honorable in a sword fight, but added that if she were ever in a life-threatening situation, she was to use any means, short of unnecessary killing, to escape alive.
He had been young when Raina was born, only twenty-one. During his adventures with Will and Elizabeth, he had left her with his father, Captain Teague, on Shipwreck Island. Teague adored his grand-daughter, but like his son had the good sense not to spoil her rotten.
After Will became captain of the Flying Dutchman and Elizabeth went off to live with her infant son, Jack came and collected his daughter from Teague, keeping her on his ship with him. By the time she was eleven, Raina was a tall young girl, well able to take care of herself. The crew loved her nearly as much as her father did, and they taught her all the tricks of their trade. Before her twelfth birthday, she could climb a ratline with the best of the crew.
One day, a ship of the Royal navy took the Black Pearl. After putting the captain and crew in handcuffs, they found Raina in the captain's cabin. The captain of the ship took a good look at Raina, who was thankfully pale with fright and looked nothing like her father at the moment, and then at Jack. "Prefer them kind of young, don't you?"
Jack lunged forward, but was held back by two members of the navy. "Don't you dare lay a hand on her." His eyes were murderous. The captain just laughed and beckoned for Raina to be taken to his ship, the Hurricane. Jack watched his daughter go, his heart screaming in pain, for he realized he would probably never see her again.
Raina glanced back in fear, but was old enough to realize that she couldn't let the navy know Jack was her father. Jack nodded at her slightly, signaling that she was to go without a fight, and Raina turned forward again. She squared her shoulders and let the men take her.
When she was thrown into a small cabin on the Hurricane, Raina hit her head and was knocked out. The captain came in later to find her sitting in the middle of the floor, holding her head and looking confused. "Where am I?"
For Raina Jacklyn Sparrow had lost her memory.
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Hayli remembered nothing but her guardians. She had been twelve when the captain of the Hurricane had put her into the care of a kindly ship builder named Thomas Peters and his wife, Vivian. The Peter's were kind to Hayli, for which was she was grateful.
Hayli knew she was different. For some reason, the latest fashions held no appeal for her. The giggling girls of the fort, who simpered at the men of the navy, seemed silly and naïve. She was told she was strange. By her teachers, her peers and even the little neighbor boy. Only Thomas and Vivian didn't treat her strangely.
By the time she was fourteen, Hayli was deemed an outcast of society. She wasn't upset at this. Nothing bothered her, since she didn't like the fort anyway. She'd kept the same hairstyle that she'd had when she was placed in her surrogate parents' hands, and for some reason she'd started adding beads to the braids. Not very many, of course,maybe only six or seven. She didn't want to be pegged as even stranger than she already was. The pride and joy of her collection was a small silver cross she'd found in the dirt outside the fort.
A week after she turned fourteen, Hayli was standing watching the ocean. The waves crashed against the sand on the beach twenty feet below the small cliff she was standing on, and she watched the sun playing over the water.
"Hayli!" Hayli looked up to see her only friend in the fort, a girl of her own age named Elle Branton, coming towards her at a run, Elle's older brother Dain only slightly behind her. "Hayli, guess what!"
"What?" Hayli asked with a smile, knowing that Elle would have told her even if she hadn't spoken.
"A new ship just made port! Her name is the Raven. She's beautiful, Hayli, you should see her." Elle straightened as she spoke. "Yes! Come on, I'll show you!" Elle grabbed Hayli's hand and tugged on it. "This way."
Hayli followed Elle back to the port, where a new ship was floating. She was painted a vibrant red color, her crisp white sails folded while not in use. The Raven was beautiful, as Elle had said. Only Elle knew about Hayli's secret longing to be at sea, and only Hayli knew that Elle felt the same way. They had agreed that one day, soon, they would sign onto a ship together and have the adventure of their lives.
Dain stood behind the two girls, also looking at the ship. It held no real appeal for him, as he was apprenticed to the local apothecary, training to become a doctor as well. He respected the sea, of course, but he had no desire to be out on it, tasting the sea air and feeling the sea wind against his face. Hayli lived for the moments that she was on the sea, which was rare. Occasionally Thomas Peters would take her out on a ship he'd worked on, but those experiences were few and far between.
"She's the one," Hayli breathed.
Elle nodded her agreement. "Finally."
Dain looked between the two girls, not understanding their short conversation. "What are you two scheming about this time?"
Elle looked at her big brother fondly. "Only if you promise not to tell." Dain agreed at once, sharing his little sister's love of anything secretive. "Hayli and I are going to sign onto that ship. But we'll need men's clothes," Elle said, giggling and looking down at her dress. "There's no way any self-respecting captain will let someone dressed like this onto his ship. At least not to work."
Dain smiled slightly. "And I suppose you want me to give you my old clothes?" Hayli and Elle nodded vehemently. Dain agreed, very reluctantly, to help them with their mad-cap scheme. "If anyone asks," he said, handing them each a shirt and a pair of pants, "I had nothing to do with this at all."
Hayli looked at Dain with wide, innocent eyes. "Of course you didn't!"
After taking them to a tavern, Dain stopped Hayli. Elle was already inside, looking around with very wide eyes. "Take care of her, Hayli."
"I will, Dain. I promise." Hayli half-bowed, a habit that she'd had for the two years she'd been with her adoptive parents. She had no idea where it'd come from. Without looking back, Hayli went into the tavern.
It was a riot. Literally. People were fighting, as was common in taverns, and Hayli quickly found Elle talking to a man. Joining her, Hayli looked at the man. "Who's this, Ethan?" She lowered her voice deliberately.
"This is the first mate of the Raven, Harry," Elle said in return. They shared a grin at their fake names. "He's agreed to let us sign on."
Again, Hayli half-bowed, careful to keep her shirt from falling open in the front and revealing that she wasn't really a man. "Thank ye, sir."
They got on board the Raven, and met the captain, a Sebastian Norrington, who just happened to be James Norrington's little brother, but of course Hayli had no idea who James Norrington was. Captain Norrington was kind to them, and was amazed at Hayli's talent, just as Thomas had been. She had no idea where she'd learned to fight, but she was better than most of the crew. Hayli taught Elle how to fight, in secret, so that they'd be ready if pirates attacked.
Hayli had no fear of pirates, another strange aspect about her that she'd had when she was dropped off with the Peters'. But she worried about Elle, who had never been out at sea for any length of time before. On the rare outing Thomas had taken her on, Hayli had invited Elle along, but they never really had to work on the ship before.
For three years, Hayli and Elle lived on the Raven, without the captain finding out that they were girls. Although they both became women at their time on sea, they'd been prepared and hid it quite successfully. If anyone noticed that they were a lot more slender than the other men, no one said anything.
Elle was a natural at swordfighting. In no time, she was nearly as good as Hayli, which was a good thing.
For a ship was coming. A ship that would change both Hayli and Elle's lives forever.
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A/N: There you have it, the prologue/chapter one. It was probably really boring, and it was slow to me, too, but the next chapter will be in first person and a lot better. Hopefully. If it's not, feel free to flame me.