Dead Man's Cruise

Chapter One

Returning to the Story

Eternal Silver Flame's Author's Note: We're back! I'm going to be known as ESF from here on out, because Eternal Silver Flame is really a nightmare to type out. Also, I'm gonna warn you now. If you haven't read Curse of the Cruise Ship, stop now and go read it. It's on wendystwin's profile. If you don't, you'll be horribly confused. Just to remind you, Curse of the Cruise Ship was set in 1729. DO NOT take that as canon! It's totally an educated guess on my part, since the Golden Age of Piracy in the Caribbean ended in the 1730s (according to Wikipedia).

I knew I had given you a date that I would put this up, but I had forgotten what I'd told you, so I had to go look through everything to find it. See, I was worried I had told you the 6th, but I couldn't get hold of wendystwin yesterday (when I remembered that I had written this chapter already). Luckily, I had told you the 7th! Yay! So, here it is, as promised, "Dead Man's Cruise"! Don't forget to review!

Is anyone else really angry that there aren't any deleted scenes on the Dead Man's Chest DVD? I liked the bloopers though. Hehehe. Crocodile machine...

wendystwin's Author's Note: Hello people! Read "Dead Man's Cruise"! It's better than the first, much cooler! So read up and happy holidays!

Disclaimer: Disney owns everything including most of the plot. ESF and wendystwin own Melody, Wendy, two other characters (don't want to spoil anything), and their part of the plot. If you can't tell which plot is Disney's and which is ours, then I don't know what you're doing reading Pirates of the Caribbean fan fiction. Also, the theory on Anamaria's disappearance from the story belongs to our good buddy Amanda!

Summary: Sequel to Curse of the Cruise Ship. Nearly a year later, Melody and Wendy Parks are still in the 18th century Caribbean. As new memories begin to replace their old ones, they begin to fear that they'll never find their way back to their own time. DMC spoilers!

Gibbs's drunken singing drifted up to the crow's nest.

"Fifteen men on the dead man's chest...Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum...Drink and the devil had done for the rest...Yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum!" He laughed drunkenly, and Melody Parks giggled quietly. Gibbs was so funny when he was really drunk.

A bell tolled loudly, and the two of them looked out across the water.

She was up in the crow's nest with her twin sister, Wendy. Their job was to keep an eye out for their captain, Jack Sparrow. He'd snuck into a Turkish prison to retrieve, in the words of Jack, an item of valuable nature. But they could barely see five feet out, as the fog was thick.

It had been nearly a year since Melody and Wendy joined Captain Sparrow's crew aboard the Black Pearl. The life of a pirate was hard, especially serving under Jack Sparrow. Commodore Norrington had been chasing them everywhere they went. They hadn't seen him since that hurricane in Tripoli, which was a port city in Libya on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

True to their word, they quickly learned how to sail. Anamaria, God rest her soul, had taught the girls the most and commented that they were learning to sail quicker than she'd ever seen. They'd lost her in the hurricane while the crew had been trying to secure the Pearl in Tripoli. She'd fallen overboard while tying up a sail, and by the time Jack had brought her to shore, she had already passed on. She was given a burial at sea, as it seemed appropriate. Anamaria had also taught them quite a bit about sword fighting. They didn't learn it as quickly as they had sailing, but they were good enough to hold their own against the drunks in Tortuga.

Soon after they joined Jack's crew, their memories began to change. They were forgetting more and more of their lives in the 21st century (mostly details about the second Pirates movie), and began remembering things that had happened before they had woken up in Port Royal. They had decided that they had been "dropped" into a previous life, since the things they were remembering had definitely not happened to them.

They were identical twins, as they'd suspected, and had been orphaned at birth in Ireland. Soon after, they had been adopted by an English couple who were unable to have children of their own. They named the girls (who had not yet been named) Jessica (Melody) and Lacy (Wendy) Williams. When the girls turned five, their foster parents brought them to the Caribbean, where they bought a small house in Kingston, a small town on the southern coast of Jamaica. They lived there happily for five years, until their town was attacked by a ship with black sails. The memory of the attack was much more vivid than anything else they had remembered about Jessica and Lacy. They had been sitting down to dinner with their mother and father...

I was reaching for my fork when an explosion rocked the small house, causing Father to knock over his glass of wine. A hush fell over us, and we listened as the distinct sound of cannon fire sounded from the bay. Father stood.

"What is it, Peter?" Mother asked, standing as well.

I had never seen Father so serious. "Extinguish all the candles and keep the children away from the windows," he told her. He went to the hall closet and took out his rifle.

Lacy and I began to get scared. "Where are you going, Father?" I asked.

He smiled reassuringly. "I'll be back, sweethearts. Take care of your mother." With that, he shared a look with mother and was gone.

We helped mother extinguish all the candles. When Mother went back to the bedrooms, Lacy and I looked out the window, and were horrified at what we saw.

Kingston was under attack.

The ship sitting in the bay looked scary. The hull was dark, maybe even black. The sails were black tatters. How did it sail? They continued to watch as the ship lowered longboats into the water and the crew began rowing to shore.

"Get away from there!" Mother said harshly, and we jumped. She pulled us away from the window and shut the curtains.

Melody shuddered at the memory. It had been the Black Pearl that attacked Kingston. Judging by the time and the nature of the attack, Barbossa had been captain at the time, and they'd been searching for the medallions. Their father had been killed fighting the cursed pirates, and they were forced to hide under the bed while two or three pirates killed their mother and took all their valuables. They ran away, not wanting to be adopted again, as they thought no one could replace the parents who had loved and cared for them all their lives. They went to Tortuga, and there they learned to sail with various pirate crews, always returning to Tortuga every few months. They never returned to Kingston.

That was all Melody and Wendy remembered. They couldn't remember why or how Jessica and Lacy showed up in Port Royal.

A gunshot rang out, startling the girls. They looked down to the deck. The rest of the crew were gathered in a huddle, talking quietly. It definitely hadn't been them. Perhaps Jack was on his way? Melody looked out in the direction of the prison. She couldn't see anyone, but the fog was starting to clear up a bit. Not by much, though. At least now they could see the water.

"How much longer, Mel?" Wendy asked, getting impatient.

"I don't know any more than you do, remember Wendy?" said Melody, squinting into the fog. "I'm not even sure if the second movie's started yet."

She shivered and crossed her arms. "He's been gone for hours. Shouldn't he be back by now?"

Melody pulled out the silver spyglass she had gotten two months ago, in their last raid. They were running out of food, money, and rum, and the crew was getting antsy. Some said they weren't living up to the title of pirate, and a few were even considering mutiny. The girls were antsy as well, but mutiny was the last thing on their mind. They couldn't do that to Jack.

"Relax, sis," Melody said, wiping the condensation off the eyepiece with her shirt. "He won't just leave us here. Have a little faith." She looked through the spyglass. She could see a bit farther now, but saw no sign of Jack. But then something caught her eye. Someone was rowing toward the Pearl, but it was too small to be the longboat Jack had left in. Wait a minute.

"It's a coffin," said Melody.

Wendy looked at her strangely. "What?"

Melody handed her the spyglass and called down to the crew, uncertain of the correct phrase to use. "Um...coffin ho!" she called. "Off the starboard bow, heading for us!"

The crew looked at her, then at each other. Melody rolled her eyes as she began climbing down the rigging. "Now really, who else but Jack Sparrow would be rowing in a coffin?" She dropped down beside Gibbs, her sister following soon after.

"True," said Gibbs. The crew scattered, hurrying to finish up their duties before Jack returned. "Misses Parks – "

"Jeeze, Gibbs, we've known each other for nearly a year!" said Melody, giggling a bit. "Drop the formalities. It's Melody and Wendy, all right?"

Gibbs looked taken aback. "Yes, of course. Melody, Wendy," the girls nodded in approval, "the rest of the crew, myself included, think it's time we talk to Jack about not doing much pirating lately."

Their eyes narrowed. "We're not going to have any part in a mutiny against Jack," said Melody. "If that's what you're planning, then – "

"No, no, no, no, no! We just want to speak with him about it. Make him see it from our side. You two've been wanting to go on a raid as well."

The girls considered. "Fine," said Melody. "We can talk to him."

"But if there's even a hint of mutiny, you can count us out."

"Agreed," said Gibbs.

Melody headed over to the starboard side to see Jack climbing up. She held out a hand to help him aboard, but Jack handed her a rotting leg. She shrieked in alarm and threw it at Gibbs, who caught it awkwardly. "Not quite according to plan," he said, examining the leg.

Cotton draped Jack's coat around him. "Complications arose, ensued, were overcome," said Jack, and he headed for the helm.

Gibbs handed the leg to Cotton and the four of them followed Jack.

"Then you got whatever it was you went in for?" asked Melody.

He turned and waved a bit of folded cloth in her face. "Mm-hmm!" He turned back around to find the rest of the crew looking at him expectantly.

"Captain," said Gibbs hastily, "I think the crew, meaning me as well, were expecting something a bit more..." he waved his fingers in front his face, "shiny. What with the Isla de Muerta going all pear-shaped, reclaimed by the sea and the treasure with it."

"And the Royal Navy chasing us all around the Atlantic," said Leech, and Indian pirate they had picked up in, well, India.

"And the hurricane!" said Marty. The crew agreed with a chorus of aye's. The twins shared a nervous look.

"We want to do some pirating, Captain," clarified Wendy. "It's been months since our last raid!"

Jack considered this. "Shiny?" he asked Gibbs.

"Aye, shiny."

"Is that how you're all feeling, then?" said Jack. "That perhaps dear old Jack is not serving your best interests as captain?"

"No, we just – " Melody began.

Cotton's parrot squawked. "Walk the plank!" Cotton quickly clamped a hand over its beak.

Jack whipped out his pistol and pulled back the hammer, aiming at the bird. "What did the bird say?!" he demanded, his voice rising in alarm.

"Do not blame the bird," said Leech. "Show us, what is on that piece of cloth there?"

Jack opened his mouth to answer, but before he could, the undead monkey dropped down in front of Jack and snarled. "Ah!" He tried to shoot the monkey, put his pistol misfired. The monkey dropped to the deck and grabbed the cloth from Jack's hand and ran off. Melody, who had to put up with the damned monkey stealing her tri-corner hat rather often, pulled out her pistol and shot the monkey. The monkey dropped the cloth and climbed up into the rigging.

"Thank you, Melody," said Jack.

She smiled as she put her gun away. "Any time, Jack."

"It's a key," said Marty, who had picked up the cloth.

"No!" said Jack. He hurried forward and took the cloth. "Much more better!" He held it up so everyone could see. "It is a drawing of a key." The crew walked forward to get a better look. Indeed it was, and a very odd looking key.

"Gentlemen, what – " Melody cleared her throat loudly. "Apologies, gentlemen and ladies, what do keys do?"

"Keys...unlock...tings?" said Leech, clearly not understanding why Jack had asked the question.

"And whatever this key unlocks," tried Gibbs, "inside there's something valuable. So we're setting out to find whatever this key unlocks!"

Jack nodded, and Gibbs smiled. "No." Gibbs frowned. "If we don't have the key, we can't open whatever it is we don't have that it unlocks. So what purpose would be served in finding whatever need be unlocked, which we don't have, without first having found the key what unlocks it?"

"So we're going to look for the key?" asked Melody, proud that she had actually followed what Jack had said.

He gave her a look. "You're not making any sense at all." Melody's face fell, and Jack looked around. "Any more questions?"

"So...do we have a heading?" asked Marty.

"Hah! A heading!" He pulled out his compass. "Set sail in a..." he faltered. "...in a general...that-way direction!" He said, pointing toward the cliff.

"Cap'n?" said Gibbs, worried for what sanity Jack normally had.

"Come on, snap to and make sail, you know how this works." Jack headed for the bow. "Oi, oi, oi! Oh, and girls," he said as he passed Melody and Wendy, "up in the nest when there's fog, you know."

"I'm kinda worried, Mel," said Wendy, as she and her sister climbed up to the crow's nest. "Jack didn't seem too sure of the heading."

"Compass must be on the fritz," Melody guessed, "or Jack doesn't know what he wants. And that could be bad for all of us."