A/N: Alright folks! I've been inspired so here you are, Emerald Fire! My first PotC fic. I just happened to think of a plot, while reading numerous other PotC fics so, Here I am!

CCV

Disclaimer: I do not own Pirates of the Caribbean, nor any other Disney thing.

Chapter One: Trouble, Exile, and Storms.

Rebecca Keaton was not the typical highborn lady her parents wanted her to be. For one thing, she had a fiery temper and crossed swords with them at every turn (figuratively), for another, she disgraced and embarrassed them at every turn. They had tried numerous ways to break her of her fiery spirit, but nothing worked. They had offered her hand in marriage to many young men, even raised her dowry to unheard of amounts, but nobody wanted the wild black-haired demon.

It should have been very easy to get a husband for her, she was very beautiful. She had slightly wavy black-as-midnight hair that fell to her waist Her heart shaped face held vivid emerald colored eyes, and smooth china white skin. And of cues, a figure men would die for to have their wife posses. She had always been clad in the finest fashions and colors. She had attained an enormous wardrobe. She also had many jewels and necklaces and rings. All items that would go with her when she became the Lady of a household. All she was missing was a sweet demeanor.

So that was why she was being sent away for a time. She had lived with her "unusual" aunt before when she had given her parents nightmares as a child. She had returned as a comparatively sweet child. (Having been bribed by her aunt) So they were putting her in exile for a time in hopes that it might straighten her out. She would come back to London; after all the rumors had died down sufficiently to secure a marriage contract for her.

Her family was by no means unwealthy and unknown. They attended court regularly and balls, and parties, all of which Rebecca hated. Her family was influential, and wealthy enough that it shouldn't't take long for the arranged marriage to take place. Lord and Lady Keaton already had their eyes on one young man...

My trunks were packed and lay on the dock beside me and my maid. I was thrilled to be going away to see my aunt Laura in the Caribbean. My parents were wrong in thinking that this was an exile, I wanted nothing more than to be free from dreary London, with all its snooty noble personages and such. I loved my aunt's house by the sea, it was where I had learned how to swim and fight, where I had first tasted freedom, and realized that there was a life for me elsewhere.

The sniffles and moans coming form my maid were annoying. Her name was Mary, and such a fretful person you never will meet! I wasn't very fond of her, mostly she hadn't attended me anyway, she served my mother and a young Spanish girl was my usual servant and handmaiden. But, Eliza had been deemed not proper enough and English enough to see to me abroad, so I was stuck with Mary. She kept muttering, all about "danger" and "pirates" and how "unfit it was for a lady of my standing to go out in to the wild Caribbean" and "why oh why couldn't I behave?" Needless to say, it was wearing on my nerves. I liked Eliza's quiet ways better.

A man in a Captains uniform came a long presently and showed us aboard. His ship was a merchant vessel that also sometimes carried passengers, it was the only available ship at the time, and my parents wanted me gone as soon as possible, so this was where I would spent the next few months.

That was the beginning of my journey.

A month or so out at sea and I was ready to rip the throats out of everybody on board.

Mary was seasick and had spent the greater part of the voyage so far below in our shared cabin. I too was forced to stay there. I was only allowed on deck for brief periods of time, mostly I tried to stay out of the crews way, they didn't take too kindly towards me.

We had reached the Caribbean at last, when the Captain informed me that there was a hurricane brewing. It was in our path and would most likely delay us from getting to Port Royal on schedule.

He assured Mary and I that we would be perfectly safe during the blow, and that he would send Jim, the cabin boy, down to us for the duration of it.

Mary continued to moan and wail her misery, which only added to mine. Jim and I attempted to calm her, but she only quieted after the rolling of the ship became especially fierce. That was when she fainted.

We waited out the storm. At times, I was tossed about so much that I was sure we would all sink. Jim was such a comfort to me, easing my worst fears away with his soft calming voice.

Eventually the motion stopped, and I chanced a glance at Mary. She was still passed out, which gave me a chance to get a breath of air before we were out of the eye of the hurricane.

We went up on deck, where Jim was taken from my company ans set to work. I was told it was safer below, but I elected instead to go to the bow of the ship. Nobody took notice of me, they really hadn't before cared about me. So I gripped the rail and gazed out at the choppy waves.

It was twilight, that eerie time between light and darkness. A shiver ran across my skin. A premonition I should have paid attention too.

As it continued to grow darker and the wind picked up, I stayed at the rail, lost in my own little world. I was heedless of the salty spray stinging my face and the thunder in the distance. And then it began to rain.

It had grown dark, too dark to see much of anything, and that was when I realized I was in danger. I should have gone down below long before...I couldn't't here the shouts of the crew anymore as I raced to the entrance below. The wind howled horribly; like a thousand starving dogs. I couldn't't see, couldn't't here, and all I could feel was cold dread in the pit of my stomach.

A flash of lightening lit up the deck, I could make out individuals for that brief second or so, and then I slipped and fell to the slippery deck. Waves crashed over the side and flung me about. I slammed in to something hard. I grabbed wildly for any support and managed to right myself, gasping for air. but taking in more water than anything else.

My head was spinning and I tried to regain my senses. Another flash of lightening and a resounding crack of shattered wood met my ears. I saw the dark mass that could only be the now broken mast of the ship creak and fall slowly sideways, smashing in to the deck hard enough for me to lose my balance. At the same time I was once again reunited with the floorboards, another wave crashed over me, sending me hurtling through the gap in the railing the mast has broken.

Under the waves I was dunked. Again and again I struggled for breath, sure I would die in that watery world, only to have my face break the surface and catch my breath. I do not now know why I struggled to hold on to my life. My battle with the sea was futile, I could never win, and yet I still held on. It would have been easier to give in and succumb death's embrace. I was stubborn, perhaps it was because I wanted to live as I had never been able to live before. I had never truly got freedom, only the small taste that required me to thirst for more. In the end, it was the sea who yielded to me.

A hard object slammed in to my side, knocking what little breath I had regained back out. I reached out to it and held on, as much because it was the only floatable thing around, as it was the only solid thing in the world. Time had lost its meaning. I felt rope and canvas against my hands and knew that it was a mas I held on to. With numb fingers, I tied the rope around my upper torso, a tricky maneuver to pull and after that, I drifted in and out of oblivion.

And so I clung.

To life.

To hope.

And to freedom.

The Black Pearl was on its way to Tortuga.

The Hurricane had done a major damage to Captain Jack Sparrow's ship and Tortuga was the nearest port. So The Pirate Captain and his crew were headed there to make repairs, restock the ship, and have a bit of fun.

Jack gazed at the horizon, steadily steering his ship with a steady hand and eye. His attention was drawn elsewhere when the cry rang out form the Crows nest, "Man overboard!"

A/N: So? So? Whadya think?! Review and let me know.

CCV