I dont own any Disney characters, only the ones I created. I mess with their plots and history too, but its all in good fun.

Our story starts in a dark and dingy bar on the island of Tortuga, notorious for slippery characters and houses of ill repute...

"10,000 gold pieces. Delivered in good health." Mercer, a man with no morals or scruples and dire looks, snarled at the dirty pirate he addressed. He held up a bag filled with coins, "Half now.." The dirty pirate grabbed the coin bag from Mercer's hand.

"Cant guarantee any form of health", he replied as he drooled over the treasure in the small purse, as his crew who were drawn around him burst into laughter, "you'd better find another crew if ye be wantin' guarantees!" he continued, and crumbled the parchment Mercer held before him, and threw it on the floor . Mercer grabbed the bag of coin forcefully and as the pirates came to defend their new stash, Mercer's men put a knife to the throat of the dirty pirate captain. He reluctantly handed over the coins with a smile.

As Gibbs walked from the bar carrying two mugs of rum in one hand, he noticed the scuffle in his path, and vaguely recognized Mr. Mercer. He looked down at the crumbled paper, and as the pirate crew scattered, he drew it up and unfurled it with one hand, using his pants for help. His face drew solemn and flush and he hurried back to his captain.

In a dimly lit corner of this bar, with bottles crashing in the background and loud festive music playing, sat the infamous Captain Jack Sparrow. Gibbs, his first mate, carrying the paper and the rum, hustled to his side, sitting down next to him and leaning in, as if to tell something quite important.

"Ye best see this, Cap'n." he handed Jack the paper. Jack seemed disinterested, and reached for his rum. He was preoccupied with the sultry wench leaning over the table flashing just enough of her goods at Jack to keep him looking for more.

"Ye best see this." Gibbs insisted with a seriousness Jack rarely sees in him, and shoved the paper near the captain's hand between Jack's gaze and the woman on the table. Jack rolled his eyes and seemed annoyed by the intrusion. The wench was pushed out of the way and left rather disgusted.

Jacks eyes concerned, then focused on the parchment, and joined Gibbs in a most serious state. "Aye". He stated. "We have ourselves a heading it seems." And he downed his entire mug of rum. As he put it down onto the table, a small smirk came over his face.

"Cap'n?" Gibbs was shocked, but not surprised.

"Find Mr. Mercer and tell him he has found himself a crew." Jack commanded.

The seas were calm and Port Royal was finally in sight. Elizabeth looked from the bow of the ship, took a deep breath of air, closed her eyes slowly, and drank it all in.

A young woman approached her, head to the floor, and curtsied. "My Lady,?" she asked.

"Bring me the looking glass Bess."

"Yes, my lady." She bowed and went on to find it for her mistress.

"Your Grace," approached the Captain, "We make port, with your permission." He bowed before his queen, honored at the job bestowed upon him.

"Of course, of course, sir, at your leisure." Elizabeth replied. Her golden hair tossed loosely upon her head surrounded by her crown of diamonds. Her ivory and gold embellished silk dress blew softly in the breeze. Her face hauntingly lonely, she was stoic and proud. Bess returned with the looking glass, bowed, and then held it up for Elizabeth. The queen looked concerned, but concentrated on the landscape, as if to remember it, although she had never visited before. She admired the brightness of the sun, the lush green mountain and the turquoise water. The Atlantic ocean she was used to in England was no match. "Bittersweet", she thought to herself.

Elizabeth paused, stood back from the glass and dismissed Bess with a short wave of her hand. Bess nodded, curtsied, and returned to the deck below.

As they approached the dock in the rather large vessel, the crowds cheered and waved. Elizabeth, Queen of England, returned greetings to her subjects, glad to be on land once again. As she walked off the ship and onto the dock, she felt as though a set of eyes were fixated on her. Silly, she thought, in such a crowd, surely she was the focus of attention. But she scanned the crowd anyway, noticing that she was unusually uncomfortable, anxious even.

Off in the back, behind all the hustle and bustle, Jack leaned back on the wall of the fort, peering at her. Thinking and plotting. "Cap'n", Gibbs pointed to the guards that surrounded Elizabeth. "She looks quite secure?" He reported.

"Aye," Jack returned. He had been noticeably quiet and discontent, since they left Tortuga. He leaned down and snagged a young island boy, ragged and seemingly poor. "What would ye say to a small errand for ol' cap'n Jack, boy?"

The child looked at the man, who bent over before him with a quizzical expression.

"I want you to give this…," he stood up and reached up to a bed of lilies that lined the top of the stone wall at the inland edge of the docks. He grabbed a perfect white lily, smelled it and handed it to the boy. "to the queen." In the child's other hand, he placed a gold piece for his trouble. The child looked at him, confirming with his eyes the mission he was embarking upon. He ran and pushed through the crowd of people, ducking under legs and around the hundreds gathered at the docks that day. Jack watched him closely as he approached Elizabeth. He slipped past the guards and ended up right at her feet.

Elizabeth, startled by the child, leaned down gracefully, to greet him. "child?" she asked as she smiled at him. He took the flower from behind his back and thrust it softly at her. Jack watched her reaction and looked at her directly, as if to speak to her through his thoughts. Elizabeth paused, stared at the flower, the smile ripped from her face, then back at the child, and regaining her composure, forced a smile at him, touched his face and took the flower from him. Jack kept watch, still, and concentrated on her. As she stood up, the child ran off into the crowd. Elizabeth was still stopped in the middle of her procession, and she went to smell the flower and then remembered herself, and decided not to. She held it tightly, and began to walk towards her coach in a daze, but with a purposeful gait, lost from her current reality.

Jack spoke to his first mate still watching Elizabeth. "We have a need to find an old friend, Mr. Gibbs. I think a certain Blacksmith might be of use to us."

Jack took his eyes off her for a moment, and off they went, and as they walked away, Jack turned back to spot the Queen once more, and as he watched her climb into her carriage and head for her retreat house, he smirked and looked away.

"Absolutely not. NO." Ms. Elizabeth Swann was quite matter of fact about his. "NO, No, No." she told William. She stuck her head out the window that overlooked her terrace, "Do you hear me Jack, no. no. no." She was adimate, and hurried about nervously, knowing that this was a disaster in the making.

William leaned on the dining side board, arms folded, shaking his head. He looked at her, knowing Jack was going to do what he wanted anyway.

"You cannot be serious, don't look at me like that. The queen's birthday celebration?! Please, you must be joking?!" she sneered. She has never been so worried, she imagined all the horrible scenarios in her head, and it made her cringe. Jack at the birthday masquerade ball was more than she could handle. Jack period was more than she could handle.

"We can do this one of two ways love", Jack appeared at the window, "our way, or mine." He pointed to himself. Lizzie became sick with the thought of him going and running amuck.

She got in Jack's face. He smiled sarcastically and victoriously."Answer me one thing, then, WHY? Why would you want to go to the queen's birthday ball?"

Jack looked her in the eyes, staring her down with that evil smirk as if to tell her to never question him or his motives, turned back to William, and as he walked to the door exclaimed, "I'll be needing a mask then, and nothing with feathers, makes my nose itch." He tipped out the door leaving Lizzie and Will to themselves.

"What have we gotten into," Lizzie said as she shook her head.

Elizabeth stood at her balcony terrace door, the wind softly moving her hair and white gown that fitted tightly around her waist. Her crown placed atop her head, she touched it, and giggled as if to laugh at a joke. But her smiles were bitter sweet, and as she stared off into the distance, she was lost in her memories. Clutched in her hand was a platinum locket with two portraits inside, herself in a light blue and beaded dress with her golden tresses tied above her tiara, on one side, and young man, stately and clean shaven, with a white shirt, ivory vest and his dark hair pulled back and tied at the base of his neck, on the other. She raised it up to look at it, and thought for a long second. She looked back at the Lilly poised in a small vase on her vanity, and remembered back to the last time she had seen a flower so beautiful...

In a vast field of waving grass and wild flowers with tall trees and castle lookout tower ruins, atop a hill overlooking Windsor castle, young Elizabeth Tudor sat reading Shakespeare under a tall oak tree, while her ladies danced to the soft music of the court musicians she had brought with them to pass the time. The girls laughed and moved about to the tunes and Elizabeth looked up for a moment to admire them. Standing a few yards away, James, Lord of Essex, in his ivory linen pants, white socks, proper shoes, and matching vest adorned with gold embroidery atop a fresh crisp white linen shirt partially opened to reveal his golden soft skin underneath, smiled flirtingly at the girls as they in turn giggled at him. Every now and again moving his gaze to the Princess Elizabeth. He enjoyed at the moment, however, the ladies acting silly and gawking over him.

Noticing his fleeting attention to her ladies and not to her, Elizabeth became slightly annoyed with her ladies. She spoke forcefully but playing, "Jack", she called to him, he acknowledged walking towards her, "read to me", she held the book up, " as you do." She commanded, smiling. She never called him James, it was not "fitting" she thought. Elizabeth decided long ago that James was a small name for such a huge ego, and decided that from that day onward she would always call him Jack. It was a name she thought befitting an adventurous and scandalous rascal. She especially felt that given her birthright, she had certian powers, including re-naming people to suit her fancy. Furthermore, she was the only one allowed to call him that. If she dare heard anyone else utter that name from their lips when addressing him, she would have them flogged.

The girls continued to act silly and watched him as he walked towards Elizabeth, somewhat jealous that he just up and runs whenever she calls. "He is so handsome…" Bess giggled whispering to Nell, one of the Princess's other ladies in waiting. Nell giggled back. They gossipped about his unreturned feelings for the Princess, and her callousness about it. They thought her a fool, and joked to her about his undying devotion to her, and that she liked having him on a string. But, Elizabeth didn't actually believe the undying love and devotion part, and she certainly didn't allow herself to act so undignified as to overtly throw herself at him as her ladies did.

Jack nodded and came to her and took the book from her hand, kissing it softly as she released it into his grasp. Poetry, Ancient philosophy, even the logs from his grandfather's travels abroad, anything she desired, he would read to her. Today it was Shakespeare. There was an heir of sexual tension that he understood, but that she was innocently unaware of, and he enjoyed it. In such a high profile position as Elizabeth has, any man seen with her could lead to scandal, ridicule and a tarnished reputation, so this was a perfect way to flirt without having aroused any suspicion. It was a harmless and fruitless flirtation, especially for a Princess soon to be married.

Jack has read to her everyday at her whim for as long as he could remember. They would sit for hours and talk about all manner of things. Having been educated at the finest of schools, Jack was her intellectual contemporary, unlike her ladies, and their philosophies on life, love, travel and politics were very much the same. And she loved the soft sound of his voice, it soothed her even if she didn't readily admit to it. She was so unlike the women he wooed. She was strong, smart, dignified and he would admit that her power excited him.

Elizabeth closed her eyes as Jack read to her, she listened to each word of Shakespeare's sonnet number 10, and allowed herself to imagine Jack was speaking those words to her as if he penned them himself. "...o, none unless this miracle have might, " Jack paused and looked at Elizabeth who was unaware of his stare, her head back facing the sky, the setting sunlight cast a glow on her golden hair that lit it up like fire. He continued reading, but he knew the words and remained fixated on her. "That in black ink", Elizabeth, checked to see if he was still looking at her and met his stare. They locked eyes. "my love may still shine bright."

Whoosch!!

Elizabeth felt a short swift breeze as something passed in front of her face. The ladies began to scream. Another whoosch!! The music stopped, Elizabeth looked next to her to see an arrow sticking out of the old oak tree inches from her. She jumped to her feet. Everyone scurried about, the ladies, a few courtiers. It was a frenzied scene. All looking about for the culprit of such an attack, when suddenly, one of the horses is hit and goes down to the ground. From the trees, the old ruins from horseback, the arrows flew across the sky. One of the courtiers is hit. Jack, assessing the scene, dodging arrows himself, looks for Elizabeth, still standing by the old oak. He spots a darkly clothed figure pointing the bow and arrow straight at her. His heart sank and his breath raised in anticipation. Elizabeth saw her would be assassin, searching the darkness for his face. He pulls back on the bow. Jack races to her, his heart pounding, the arrow is released, and Jack winces, falling to the ground on top of Elizabeth. Their bodies stacked on one another, and their faces only a few inches apart. This is the closest they have ever been, and it is a noticeably awkward yet peaceful moment. She is frightened, but amidst all of this commotion, looks into the eyes of her rescuer. She never noticed how perfect the shape of his face was, how beautiful his eyes were. He never saw her look at him that way. Not knowing he has been hurt, she continues to stare releasing a vulnerable gaze at him that captures his heart. He is tempted. The pain disappeared, the world stopped for that moment. This commotion abounded them and yet thrust them into a state where they faced the very issue they had avoided for so long. He leaned in to her as if to want to kiss her, then caught himself and almost began to say something…"The Princess!!" a man's voice yelled.

The guards arrived on their steeds and the attackers fled on horseback into the dusk. Interrupting the moment of discovery between Elizabeth and Jack.

"My lady!!" Bess yelled, running towards them. Their gaze broke, and suddenly they were back in the real world where things like duty, composure and regality reigned supreme. Jack helped Elizabeth to her feet, holding her hands tightly and pulling her up. His touch felt different than ever before and almost made Elizabeth blush. "Lord Essex, you're hurt!!" Bess cried addressing Jack.

Elizabeth, stunned by this, moved quickly, looking desperately for his wound. "The arrow just grazed you, my lord." One of the guards, who was alerted to this commotion observed.

Elizabeth examined it herself and touched him blood noticing it on her fingers. She looked at Jack somewhat bewildered, actually stunned by his action, and wondering if it was true, what the ladies had been gossipping about his feelings for her. Could it actually be true? She wanted desperately to ask him, but would not. And she hated herself for it. The Princesses guard and adviser, Walsingham ordered her away from the scene and back to the safety of the castle. The guards swooped her up from Jack's side and rode away.

Jack stayed a moment, looking at the hoof prints and the direction of the tracks. "That's odd.?" he thought. The path led back towards the tower prison. Who plans an assination of the Princess of England and then pass the very spot where much of the King's guard reside? Whoever it was was aparently either not afraid to be caught, or was assured they would not get caught. A disparaging notion in any event. Jack jumped on his steed and headed back to the castle.

Inside the castle in Elizabeth's room, the doctors, checking on Elizabeth from her ordeal of the day, and the Queen at the side of her daughter, discussed the events. "I am fine, really, I am." Elizabeth wanted no more fuss, she just wanted to end this circus so she could get back to analyzing what happened that evening and what exactly he could possibly feel for her, if anything. Was this an act of devotion to the crown, natural instinct of a gentleman? If so, then where the hell were the other men standing around for? No one else acted to dive in front of an arrow to save her. Was there no other subject compelled to give their life for their Princess? Or was his action something more? She debated back and forth, and something inside her wanted desperately for there to be a hint of truth in it.

The King met in the counsel chambers analyzing the evidence of the attack. Lord Winston Beckett, the King's secretary and most trusted adviser, presented the most well accepted theory of the case. "We have captured one of the men your grace, he was armed with the very arrows used in the attack. They were poison tipped with an herb that renders it victim paralyzed and unconscious in minutes. It leads to certain death."

"And who is this man?" asked the King.

"He is a simple common man from London, but he was carrying this." Lord Beckett pulled from his cloak parchment with a seal on it and several signatures. " The King took it in his hand and examined the document. "It is a declaration of war your grace." The King knew what it was and he was stunned. The counsel members demanded action arguing at the King. "The Scottish King wishes death to the royal family and intends to claim the throne of England. He has promised absolution to the persons responsible for the murders and speaks of a large reward to go with it."

The King sat speechless. In all his reign and his father's reign, there has not been war in England. He was a peaceful and gentle King who led with a cool hand and a warm heart. He knew though, what had to be done. His utmost responsibility was to England and her safety. "Then he has moved our hand." the King replied. "We shall begin preparations for my immediate departure to Scotland in the morning. Let the armies know that their King will lead them in this battle for the salvation of England."

Lord Beckett interjected, with the egging on of the entire counsel. "Your grace, " he paused, "eh - I , WE (motioning his hand to encompass the entire counsel) feel it in the best interest of the state that," he paused again "Prince George" he looked at the King who was shocked at the suggestion to send his oldest son to war and ready to shut down the idea. Winston fore saw this and was prepared, stopping the King by continuing, "He is young, ready, willing and able to serve his country. The people love him, Sire, and this could be a perfect time to ready him for his inevitable succession of the throne."

The King, old and frail as of late, had been loosing much of his fire and passion in his old age and almost lacked the energy to argue with the counsel. He took it on good advice that this would be the best outcome for all involved. Winston reassured his King by telling him that with the weakened state of the Scottish army and the power and shear number of the English army the campaign should last no more than 6 months. The King signed the order, and the counsel ratified it. George was off to Scotland.

The back door to the castle kitchen was open and Jack snuck inside. He looked around and saw only a few servants cleaning floors and kitchen utensils. He smiled at them as if he belonged there and that their quizzical looks at him were out of place. He picked up an apple off the table, "Just what I was looking for," he took a bite and held it up to the servant cleaning the knives reassuring him that his being there in the kitchen was a perfectly natural occurrence. He left the kitchen and moved towards the laundry room. "This will never work", he thought. He had to move about the castle without any real notice if he was to find out anything. Just then, Lady Bess came into sight walking down the hall, and he ducked inside a closet filled with ladies uniforms, dresses for the seamstresses, cooks and nurses. She never noticed him, walking right by as he made a sigh of relief. "Huummm." He thought. He had an idea...

Lady Bess headed into the kitchen, returning a few moments later with a large pitcher of water. She came to the closet, opened the door, holding up her candlestick to see inside. She was startled and jumped back almost dropping everything. "What are you doing?!" she yelled. "Stupid woman, you near scared me half to death!!" The odd looking woman apologized in a very high pitched voice and with some strange mannerisms. "Put yourself to use, then, and fetch some clean towels for the Princess." Ut oh, thought Jack. Not exactly what he bargained for, but there wasn't much he could do now, he couldn't raise any suspicion. "Come come now.." Bess became impatient as Jack searched for towels.

"Blasted towels! Bloody, trifling, blasted towels!" He mumbled under his breath.

"Did you say something, woman?" Asked Bess angrily. Jack shook his head. "Lets go then, out with you." Jack came out wearing a nursemaid dress, and bonnet, covering his face with a headpiece that left only his eyes to peer out. He followed the Lady Bess, hoping and praying he wasn't discovered.

"Please, please.." she pleaded with all, especially her mother, "this has been a most tumultuous day, I am quite tired." she looked at Anne, and pleaded with her to remove all of the relatively unimportant people and allow her the space she needed. Lady Bess returned from the kitchen carrying a pitcher of water. Following behind her with a stack of towels, was a rather odd looking maid. Elizabeth paid little attention preoccupied by the moment in the field. Bess went over to the dressing table and prepared the area for the Princess' bath. Jack's eyes opened like saucers.

"Oh please tell me that's not for her.." He thought. He could withstand many things but a beautiful, unclothed Elizabeth only inches away while he was dressed like a nursemaid was more than he could handle. At least Bess was there to do the actual bathing. He could just close his eyes and hand her towels.

"Yes, of course." Anne replied, "Let's give my daughter some much needed rest." She commanded the room be emptied with the exception of the one nursemaid.

"What?, no Bess?", Jack thought. THAT was more than he could handle.