Disclaimer: No, sadly I do not own Jack Sparrow, or the Black Pearl…. cries But! I do indeed own Rose. She's mine, ya hear? Mine! So keep your mitts off!

Chapter 1: Cover Blown

Rose stood rigid, her back straight as a ruler against the decaying brick of the alley. He was looking for her. Yet she had known in the depths of her mind that he would never stop looking for her, and that it was only a matter of time until he started searching the land.

It had begun again that night, during her usual shift at a small tavern in Port Royal, The Sunken Cutlass. She had been serving up another lot of flea-ridden buccaneers and homeless drunks, while receiving an overwhelming amount of looks and catcalls. However, she had become used to ignoring the lust-crazed men, and went about serving them with a dangerous glint in her eye.

"Oooo, she's a feisty wench, she is," said a greasy sailor with a toothless grin.

Rolling her eyes, Rose turned back to the several remaining customers. In doing so, she almost dropped several glasses of rum, because of the macabre figure that lingered at the door.

It seemed that all commotion in the tavern had stopped, when a tall figure cloaked in black stood at the entrance. A pair of piercing emerald eyes gazed out of under a three cornered hat, searching the tavern as if looking for something.

Or someone.

The evil looking man swept off his cloak gracefully, and Rose quickly ducked into the kitchen. Peeking through a knothole in the door, she watched the strange familiar man take a seat at the bar and order himself a drink. Meanwhile, the tavern had gone back to its noisy chatter, but many glanced wearily at the intimidating man every now and then.

She was frightened, but tried to push old memories away as she tried to formulate a plan. She knew she had no other choice but to come out of hiding, and take her place at the helm of a ship again. She had longed for it, the spray of the salty sea, and the warm feel of the doldrums, as she made way to-

Suddenly she was snatched out of her daydream, for a pair of piercing, green eyes were upon her.

Jack Sparrow leaned back in a moldy, wooden chair in his cabin on the Pearl. He sat trying to use a stolen trader's schedule, as a guide to figure out which routes treasure galleons would take over the next five months. Currently, he and his crew were docked in Port Royal, but were always forced to cut their visit short because of the trouble he had caused a few years ago. He had decided to give the crew the night off to enjoy some rum, or perhaps some lady's company. When asked to partake in the evening, the captain surprised even himself when he declined. He felt a difference in the air, like a new presence. He knew something was going to happen, and soon.

But what?

He sat upright in his chair as he swam through the depths of his mind, trying to catch a glimpse of what was to come, but was interrupted with the padding of feet on the deck.

Rose had dashed out of the kitchen as soon as he caught her glance. She ran to her boarding room above the tavern that she shared with the other barmaids. Breathing a sigh of relief, she discovered that it was deserted. Hurriedly, she grabbed an old potato sack, which housed her old possessions. She also took her mother's old locket, which she had said would bring good luck. Some lucky trinket.

She decided that taking the stairs would be too risky, so she pushed open one of the windows and proceeded to climb out. She did this agilely and quietly, for fear of giving herself away. Realizing that there was nothing for her to climb down on. She cursed at her poor judgment; she was still quite rusty. Her options were jumping three stories onto a nasty looking bush, or jumping from rooftop to rooftop, searching for a way down. Of course, she chose the latter. However as she peered up into the hazy moonlit sky, a tall, dark figure grinned maliciously at her. It really was him.

Rose then began to panic; he had cornered her after the years of hiding and running. He had ruined her life. She could not give him the satisfaction of finally capturing her and putting her back in a cage. She stood for freedom, and without it she would surely perish. So she did the only thing she could.

She jumped.

The world had seemed to spin around her, and terror raced through her mind. She was going to die, finally. She never would have begun to think it would all end like this. She closed her eyes and things seemed to slow down. She could see the horizon of the sea at sunset for a moment, but then was startled by the end of her plummet.

She had expected everything to go black, and to see a white light at the end of a dark tunnel, but to her surprise she found herself looking at the sign of The Sinking Cutlass upside-down. I'm alive? she wondered. Wait, I'm alive! she realized. It struck her that she must have landed into the gnarly bush she had seen before. However her joy was interrupted by wave of pain crashing through her left arm. It was without a doubt broken.

Focus Rose, she thought to herself. She had to make a break for it now, because only God knew how long she had been sitting in the pile of withered branches. Holding her injured arm close to her chest, she ducked into an alley and waited. Hearing footsteps, she stilled her breath as best she could and backed up against a building wall. When she was sure he had moved on, she darted out of her hiding place. Lucky for her, he was waiting silently in the shadows. In a desperate attempt to lose him, she ran towards to docks.

As soon as she saw the large congregation of ships on the dock, she sighed in relief. She heard his footsteps getting closer, and ran onto the deck of a large ship with black sails. She darted her eyes around, in need of a hiding place when she ran into a tall man with a head full of bead-laden dreadlocks.

Captain Jack Sparrow.