Author's Note: This story was inspired by a dream I had just last night and had to write down…so we'll see where the story goes from here! I also got some inspiration from a song by John Mayer. I'll post the lyrics at the end of the chapter. The title came from the song as well. I do not own John Mayer, or his work or POTC or Jack Sparrow (sadly) or anything except the original story line of this story and my OC : )

Full Summary:

Paige Hawthorne was taken from her family, friends, ship…her entire life destroyed in front of her in a matter of seconds…when she was only six years old. Now, raised by British royalty, she is told nothing of her past or where she came from. All she has is a gold coin around her neck, a coin that she feels holds the answers to her past. But for Paige, the journey isn't over, it has only just begun. When the British ship she is traveling on is attacked, Paige is forced to face a past she isn't sure she's ready for…especially when she meets the charming, confusing and bizarre Jack Sparrow. Soon she finds herself torn between the life she had originally been born into, and the life she was forced to live for fourteen years. Is blood thicker than water? Which life calls to her heart more deeply…and in the end…whom will she choose to spend the rest of her days with? Adventure, love, angst and drama all rolled into one!

Prologue:

Fourteen Years Earlier…

The cannon fire was terrifying, especially for the six year old little girl as she raced across the ship in a desperate attempt to find sanctuary. All around her people were being shot and falling, lying still where they fell. She screamed as a man collapsed on top of her, bleeding profusely from his head. She screamed until she managed to squirm out from under his dying corpse and fled across the vast deck of the ship. Another cannon ball slammed into the ship's side, rocking her hard to starboard. The girl cried out as she flew across the deck and landed hard against the far railing.

Ropes with grappling hooks on the end were launched from the attacking ship and strange men began to swing themselves over and board her vessel. The young girl screamed as the men pulled out swords and commenced to killing everyone on board. She curled up into a tight little ball and cried, knowing deep down that eventually one of these strange men would see her and would run his sword right through her like they had done to all the others.

Suddenly, the young girl felt strong arms grab her and lift her to her feet. She screeched and opened her eyes, bracing herself to look at the face of the man who was about to end her young life. Instead she saw in the man's eyes what she thought was sympathy and hesitation. She whimpered a little and took a small step away from him. The man looked into the girl's bright green eyes and knew in that moment he couldn't kill an innocent child.

"What is your name, miss?" he asked her, trying to appear as unintimidating as possible.

The girl trembled. She hadn't heard an accent like that one before, although from the stories her parents had told her she recognized the accent. Her mother used it all the time when she mocked them…the British.

"I'm…I'm Paige…Paige Hawthorne," said the girl in a trembling voice.

"Paige, sweetheart, come with me, okay? So you don't get hurt. I'll take you somewhere where you'll be safe from all this."

Paige gave the man her trembling hand. She was absolutely petrified. She had never left the ship…not once in her six years of life. But as she glanced around her at the death and destruction of all she had ever known and loved she knew, even in her young mind, that there was nothing left to stay for. As she followed the strange-accented British man toward the far railing where the other ship was now tied up to, she glanced over her shoulder and cast one last glance at the ship she had called home. When she did…she saw her mother get stabbed from behind. The blade went clean through her and she died where she fell, her long, curly brown hair splayed out on the deck around her head…

…

Paige woke up gasping in a cold sweat. It was that damn dream again…the dream from when she was six years old and her entire world had been ripped out from under her. Since then she had been raised by the British. She had little if any recollection of the life she lived when she was young…nothing left but the nightmares that still haunted her…and the golden coin on a gold chain around her neck. She felt for its familiar shape around her neck and rolled it over in her fingers, wondering for the millionth time in her life what in the world it was. All she had been told was that when she was rescued that it was around her neck. No one knew what it meant, but they'd allowed her to keep that one small part of her past. The rest, they had helped her to forget. They didn't want her to know what she truly was…they didn't want her to falter in her loyalty and love for Britain…they wanted her to marry a sailor and become a regular, British household wife and later a mother…they didn't want her to know…that she was a pirate.

Paige could still hear the sounds of that awful battle in her head. She shook her head, tousling her long, dark brown, wavy hair, trying to get the noise to disappear along with her dream. She froze for a moment when she realized that the sounds were only getting louder and more distinct as her brain began to fully awaken. Then she was struck by a horrific, icy realization. The sounds were not the lingering noises of her nightmare…but rather the sounds of the present. Her ship, one of the royal navy fleet, was under attack.

"Oh God," she whispered, feeling as if someone had stabbed a knife into her chest, "It's happening again…"

…

Come out Angels
Come out Ghosts
Come out Darkness
Bring everyone you know

I'm not running
I'm not scared
I am waiting and well prepared

I'm in the war of my life
At the door of my life
Out of Time and there's nowhere to run

I've got a hammer
And a heart of glass
I got to know right now
Which walls to smash

I got a pocket
Got no pill
If fear hasn't killed me yet
Then nothing will

All the suffering
And all the pain
Never left a name

I'm in the war of my life
At the door of my life
Out of time and there's nowhere to run

I'm in the war of my life
At the core of my life
I've got no choice but to fight 'til it's done

No more suffering
No more pain
Never again

I'm in the war of my life
At the door of my life
Out of time and there's nowhere to run

I'm in the war of my life
I'm at the core of my life
Got no choice but to fight 'til it's done
So Fight on, fight on everyone, so fight on
Got no choice but to fight 'til it's done

I'm in the war of my life
I'm at the core of my life
I've got no choice but to fight 'til it's done

…

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