Author's Note: Guten Tag, dearies! :) Just a heads up – the prologue has been very slightly edited, but it's not really worth re-reading. Also, the prologue was the only chapter to be written in Arabella's point of view. From now on, it's in third person :D

This chapter takes place when Elizabeth, Governor Swann, Norrington and Will arrive in Port Royal... so like eight years before the movie begins. Just so there's no confusion there! ;).


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Chapter I
William Turner the Younger
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Port Royal had been a place she was forced to call her home. Her run-down shack was a house she counted on to survive, though never looked forward to hiding behind its safe walls after a day in a job she could hardly call work. Arabella Smith sighed, tracing shapes into her table with one long finger knowing it would only be a moment before their invisible presence would be forgotten and she would be once again be trapped within a life which would never be completely hers.

Some would call her crazy if they were enlightened with her tale of love, loss and gallantry, and it would take a person ahead of their time to merely see it as the beginning of an adventure. Of course, Miss Smith knew there were but few – if any – people who were beyond their century within the walls of this town, therefore she wasn't hesitant to keep her secret locked in her throat.

She knew it was time to rise from her moulded position when various cries of "it's the governor!" and "they're here!" flooded from the gaps in her window frames and beneath the thin slither of her door. After the death of the previous, Port Royal had been assigned their next governor; and it was Arabella's duty as poor old Governor Draught's faithful servant to fulfil the position of maid to new-comer Weatherby Swann and his young daughter of twelve years, Elizabeth.

Once dressed and refreshed, long auburn curls entwined up into her cap, Arabella walked into the chilled streets, locking her door behind her.

New naval officers, clothed in straight uniforms of red and white patrolled the area – she rolled her eyes; sure, it was bound to be chaos for a while. By the time these men realized Port Royal was a town of no events where the most thrilling scene was Mr Brown the blacksmith occasionally putting on a unique performance of drunkenly dancing, this sudden excitement would die and everyone would return to their monotonous lives.

She listened to the ripple of the insignificant wind clocking her body as it scurried on through the atmosphere instead of the whispers and giggles of the gossiping women or the war-cries of the tackling children rolling at her ankles. Arabella had no interest for these people so they in return had no interest for her.

In all honesty, she wondered why on earth she still bothered with it all.

But that was the day it all changed. That was the day a certain someone would enter her life and would affect it forever...

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"Is there something you want, Miss?"

Stopped at the entrance to Fort Charles, Arabella glanced up from her feet and met the green eyes of a Navy captain she had been instructed to call 'Norrington'. With a slightly aggravated sigh she responded;

"I'm Governor Swann's new maid," she explained, briefly, "Arabella Smith." Norrington glanced at the hand she had outstretched, curiously. He for one was definitely not used to shaking the hand of a woman, let alone a strikingly beautiful one such as Arabella before him; besides the dirt grained to her cheeks and years of living a life she categorically did not enjoy beginning to affect her, she was a pretty maiden, no doubt.

After no response, she lowered it with an exasperated sigh. "I can show ye papers."

"No, no!" insisted Norrington quickly. He carefully shifted aside, allowing the maid to pass through the heavy gates and up the winding path to the Governor's mansion. She smiled gratitude towards the young man before her and muttered a small 'thank-you' in addition as she made her way past him.

"Good day, Miss Smith," he called after her. With this, the corners of her lips convulsed up into a slight smile as she glanced back over her shoulder;

"It's Arabella."

She felt his penetrating glance on her back as she dragged her feet behind her and almost felt her soul uplift with this; there was something strikingly familiar about James Norrington that she liked in a strange, outlandish way. Something she couldn't quite place.

The mansion was busy, so it appeared, and proved to be even busier so once Arabella slipped through the open double doors. Servants flocked back and forth, some she recognised from her time under Governor Draught's employment and some fresh faces, brought with the Swann's straight from London. Scanning back and forth, she eventually spotted the man in which she assumed was most likely Weatherby Swann and approached him slowly, hoping he would perhaps recognise her and therefore avoid the awkward introduction stage.

"Excuse me, sir?" she started. The Governor looked up from the papers in his hands and offered a smile. "My name is Arabella Smith," she continued, "I am to be your maid. Governor Draught informed me you would take me on board before his death."

She bit her lip; her usual speak of 'ye' and 'yer' would have to be precluded. Her previous employer may not have minded, but Arabella found it best to hold her breath; not all men of riches could overlook the tongue of a pirate, especially when the speaker appeared as a woman.

"Ah yes," Governor Swann's eyes sparkled as he grinned, as if Arabella was bearing him a cake instead of an employment. "I've heard a lot about you, Miss Smith."

"Oh, I assure you, sir, you haven't heard everything about me," she smiled one-sidedly back; to think, if anyone in this town beside her knew of her past, she surely wouldn't be made as welcome, or declared as the late governor's most favoured maid. In fact, she wasn't entirely sure she would be welcome behind the walls of Port Royal at all.

"That's right, Miss Smith," he agreed with a smile of his own. "And I am intent to find out where your areas of expertise lie. Therefore, I'm sure you wouldn't mind getting straight to work?"

Arabella was unhesitant to nod. "Of course, sir," she responded on the spot. Working shifts had been the only thing that could successfully take her mind away from her dreams and distant realities. Sitting around the house in a day dream would be but a tragedy, as she would always open her eyes and see the life in which she didn't belong. "I'll start right away. What is it you wanted me to do?"

Governor Swann launched into a list of chores, but after a mere moment, Arabella already found her mind wandering. Her glinting brown eyes scanned the room, noting every movement by every servant and seeming to hear every word breathed from every pair of pale pink lips.

And it was at the sight of two young children she stopped listening completely.

One wore a pretty blue gown, her golden locks curled to her shoulders and skin like porcelain. It didn't take a genius, Arabella figured, to realise this was the daughter of the Governor, Miss Elizabeth Swann. The girl, twelve years old at least, was smiling and laughing with a quieter boy who had his back effectively turned to Arabella. It was only when he turned around that she knew exactly who he was.

"Miss Smith?" Swann pressed, drawing back Arabella's attention. "Have you got all of that, my dear?"

"Oh, yes," she lied, quickly although was swift to change the subject; "tell me, sir, who is that boy?" She directed her eye line back to the two youths with Governor Swann mirroring it. He made a short sound of recognition before replying:

"That would be a mister William Turner," yes, that did it. Definitely Bill's son, Arabella's mind whispered and she found herself nodding along as the governor's explanation continued; "we found him as the only survivor of a shipwreck on our crossing from England. I see my daughter has taken quite a liking to him."

The maiden smiled lightly as Miss Elizabeth touched her hand to Will's bicep and the Turner boy blushed, curving his deep brown orbs towards the ground, feet worming beneath him.

"I think it's rather sweet," Arabella stated, then hastily adding, "sir."

A disapproving grunt came from her right hand side which she took as her signal to press her lips firmly shut.

"He won't be staying with us," the governor mumbled, more to himself than to his maid, "I shall be sending him away with Miss... Estrella, is it? Yes, I hear Mr. Brown is in need of an apprentice and Mr. Turner here should fit the drop description perfectly."

Arabella's ears instantly pricked up. "Would ye like me to take him, sir?" she chirped, her attempt at clean speech slipping much to her own disappointment. Luckily, the governor seemed too wrapped in his daughter's flirting and sneaky grins towards this boy to notice a slight grammatical error on his maid's part.

"No, no, you have enough on your plate, Miss Smith," he decided. "I can't be worrying my best maid with the welfare of a homeless child."

"As ye wish, sir."

"Then you are dismissed," he offered her another smile of kindness. "Welcome back to Fort Charles."

Ignoring him blatantly, Arabella began to walk away frustrated with the outcome of the conversation. She felt her heart sink to the pit of her stomach and her level of liking for Port Royal's newest governor descend greatly. She knew, as selfish as it was, she needed this William Turner boy more than anyone could possibly imagine and every time spent with him would be her secret desire. For, she had speedily concluded, he was the only way she could access the remainder of her past.

And it was the past Arabella needed to live the future; live it happily, at least.


Author's Note: Update :) Heh, this is getting exciting-ish... I can't wait to get into the movies and toss things around!

I was meant to upload this yesterday but my dad distracted me with DVD box sets of Blackadder and series 3 of My Name is Earl that he got from some stall with major price reductions... so yay!

Anyways, I don't actually have a plan for this story. I've just decided to write as the ideas come to me... which means a few chapters down the line I'll probably get writer's block or something, but who knows; maybe a plot idea will come to me before then! :D Please review!

Next chapter; we skip forward a few years for Norrie's promotion and, while we're at it, we get a look in at Belle's oh so mysterious past. Heh. Well I guess I've got a BIT of a plan after all ;)