I sighed, fanning my face as the string quartet droned on in the background. This damned corset was choking the life out of me, barely letting me take a breath. Commodore Norrington was speaking with my younger sister Elizabeth at the battlements, and when I looked back around, Elizabeth was on her way over to me. Her smile was genuine as she sat beside me.

"I see you've already congratulated the Commodore on his promotion," I said, watching him look over to us then glance away. "What's got into him? He seems..." I frowned. "agitated. Like he's got to do something but doesn't wish to." Elizabeth fanned herself, looking at me.

She smiled. "Well, why don't you go and ask him yourself." She said with a glimmer in her eyes. I narrowed mine, seeing that strange light in her brown eyes - what did she know? I pursed my lips, standing and walking over to Commodore Norrington who smiled down at me from under the shade of that ridiculous hat.

"Good day, Susanna," he said as I stared out to sea at the docks. The HMS Interceptor was just visible in the distance. I smiled, trying to catch a breath. Dear lord, if I could rip this corset off at this moment I would have - it might have been worth it just to see the Commodore's look. "I expect Elizabeth delivered my message?"

I glanced over to my sister, who was watching us, hiding a grin behind her fan. "Well..." I gasped. "I suppose you could put it that way." I fanned myself, watching the Commodore turn away and stare out to sea.

"You look lovely today, Susanna," he said, turning back to me. I managed a smile, throbbing beginning between my eyes - damn this corset to the depths of hell and further. "I...apologise if I may seem...forward, but I - I must speak my mind." Norrington stared into my eyes for a moment, before glancing away. I frowned, fanning harder. He did seem disturbed, as though some great monster were plaguing his nightmares and he was forced to tell somebody about his deepest, darkest fears.

I leaned on the battlements. "This promotion...it throws into sharp relief that which I have not yet achieved," he said as I turned back for another glance at Elizabeth. She was talking to one of the other men and had given up on watching the Commodore and I. "- A marriage...to a fine woman."
My eyes widened. Oh, goodness - whatever could be on his mind so to make him take so long to spit it out? He turned back to me, his eyes intense. "You, Susanna...you have become a fine woman." He looked back out to sea. "What I mean to say is...well, I -"

For the past few minutes my breathing had been almost totally restricted - surely the maids had done the corset up too tight? I reached forward to lean on the battlements only to find that my legs buckled beneath me and I fell. A moment later, I hit the water just before hearing the Commodore shout "SUSANNA!" from up at the battlements.

The next thing I knew was opening my eyes to see clouds forming over the sun and coughing, water coming up from my insides and the freezing cold wind that had suddenly picked up. I coughed harder, leaning to one side as a man's voice spoke.
"I'd never have thought of that," he said. I glanced upwards to see three men, one of whom was holding my corset - blood rushed to my cheeks when I realised that I was in my petticoats before three men.

The middle man looked to the first man who had spoken. "Clearly, you've never been to Singapore." He said, beads of water dripping from his long hair onto me. I stared up at him, taking in his strange appearance. He looked out of place between the other two men, who were dressed in the Royal Navy uniforms. This man was different, wearing a sopping wet shirt and some kind of headscarf over his forehead, beads hanging from his hair. He looked...well, he looked like some kind of pirate.

I tried to sit up, the two medallions hanging from my neck falling into view. Air had never felt so good, despite the fact that I was soaking wet, in my petticoats with three men I had never seen before in my life. A small part of me wondered what on earth was in Singapore that was so special, but the rest of me was preoccupied by the pirate man picking up the medallions, his dark eyes meeting mine.

"Where did you get these?" He asked as the noise of many feet sounded along the pier. I glared, snatching them back from the pirate man. Norrington pointed a sword at my rescuer, his lip curling. Behind him, I saw the Governor and Elizabeth appear. I staggered to my feet, leaning on one of the poles that held the pier in place. The Governor reached me, pushing through the men to wrap me in his coat. I gasped for air, coughing again as bayonets were pointed at the pirate man.
Elizabeth put an arm around me. "Susanna, are you all right?" She asked, her eyes wide. "I - I told you to go and speak with him, it's my fault -"

I turned to her with a weak smile. "Elizabeth, it's fine, I'm -" I turned to Norrington, who still had his sword pointed at the man. "Commodore, please lower your sword." He turned to me, not moving. I sighed loudly. "Do you really intend to kill my rescuer? You have him to thank that I am alive."

The pirate raised an eyebrow as he stared at Elizabeth and I. When the bayonets were lowered, he flashed us a sarcastic smile. Elizabeth held my arm tightly, her eyes narrowing. "I believe thanks are in order," Norrington offered his hand, which the pirate took.

As soon as the pirate's hand was in Norrington's, the Commodore pulled up his sleeve to reveal a scar in the shape of a P. I drew in breath sharply. "So I was right," I murmured, drawing Elizabeth's and the pirate's attention.

"Had a brush with the East India Trading Company, did we, pirate?" Asked the Commodore, to which the pirate grimaced, as though remembering the pain of the brand. Norrington slid his sleeve further up the pirate's arm, his eyes gleaming with recognition. "Keep your guns on him," ordered Norrington, reaching for some shackles. They were handed to him as he smiled a cold smile. "Jack Sparrow," he said.

The pirate grimaced again, pulling his arm from Norrington's grip. "Captain Jack Sparrow," he said. Elizabeth, beside me, raised an eyebrow.

"Do you remember the stories?" She whispered to me, to which I nodded. This was the man who - if the rumours were true - had sacked Nassau Port without even firing a shot; he had once been the terror of the Caribbean sea - this was that man? This...bedraggled scarecrow of a man?
Norrington smiled. "I don't see your ship," he said, reaching behind him for the manacles. Captain Jack Sparrow grinned.

"I'm in the market...as it were." He glanced over to Elizabeth and I. Elizabeth looked away while I pulled her away from him, narrowing my eyes. I swallowed as the two Royal Navy men handed over the pirate's things - a pistol, a compass and - was that a sword?

Norrington snorted to himself as he looked over the Captain's things. "You are, without doubt, the worst pirate I've ever heard of."

Jack Sparrow's eyes glinted. "Ah, but you have heard of me." He grinned, his expression changing as the Commodore grabbed him, pulling the Captain across the pier to where the shackles were. Elizabeth and I stared at each other with matching expressions of disbelief.

I broke away from the Governor and Elizabeth, following Norrington and Captain Sparrow. "Commodore, I must protest -" I reached for his arm, turning to face him. "Pirate or not, this man saved my life," I glanced behind me at Captain Sparrow who was being shackled by one of the lieutenants. I sighed, folding my arms over my chest. "Nobody else would have been able to rescue me - and now you wish to send him to the gallows?"

Norrington's jaw clenched. "One good deed is not enough to redeem a man from a lifetime of wickedness, Susanna!" I resisted the urge to ask why exactly piracy was so wicked, and pursed my lips. "You will come to learn that, soon enough."

"But it seems to be enough to condemn him," piped up Captain Sparrow from behind me. I glanced back, following the line of his arm to the shackles on his wrists. Norrington smiled that cold smile once again, making me shiver. Was this the man who I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with?

"Indeed." Said Commodore Norrington. I squared my jaw, ready to argue. The noise of the manacles being locked had stopped, and suddenly they had been swung over my head and were being held tight against my neck. I sucked in a breath, watching Elizabeth wrench herself from the guards holding her back only to be restrained by the Governor. I felt hot breath on the back of my neck and resisted the urge to elbow Captain Sparrow in the gut.

The shackles were cold on my neck. "Commodore Norrington, my effects please." Sparrow said from behind me, his voice loud in my ear. I swallowed - I had the option of moving backwards towards Sparrow to get away from the shackles that were pressing into my neck, or letting them cut off my windpipe even more if I moved away. I gasped, meeting the Governor's panicked eyes with my own. "And the hat."

My hands trembled as Norrington prepared to hand the pirate's things to him. In the meantime, Sparrow tightened the shackles, speaking close to my ear. "Susanna...it is Susanna, isn't it?" His breath whispering over my neck. Tears formed in the corners of my eyes but I blinked them away.

I gritted my teeth. "It's Miss Swann to you, pirate." I said venomously. I could almost see the slimy smile Sparrow was making behind me.

"Ah, you didn't seem to care if I was a pirate earlier," he hissed, to which I was preparing to elbow him in the stomach for. I set my jaw, watching as Norrington's eyes met mine before he handed Sparrow the pistol and hat. "Susanna, if you'd be so kind." I ignored the blatant disrespect for my wish to be called Miss Swann. Norrington handed me the hat and before I knew it, a pistol was being held to my head and I'd been spun around to face the pirate. His eyes raked over my face as I stared at the pistol. "Come come, we don't have all day," he said with the glimmer of a smirk forming on his despicable face. I pressed my lips together, reaching up to put on his hat and ignoring his gaze that swept downward, towards the medallions or God knew what. My lip curled as I reached around him to buckle up the effects.

Sparrow pressed himself up against me, his body just as soaking as mine, the heat from his chest radiating through his shirt and causing a small whimper to escape my lips. "I still want an answer to my question." He whispered in my ear as I buckled up the sword belt, pulling it as tight as I could manage - he deserved to face the gallows. I scowled.

"Which question exactly?" I asked, knowing full well what. A dark eyebrow twitched up as once again, he glanced downwards to the necklaces. I swallowed, glaring. "You are a despicable human being," I hissed, which earned a slimy grin.

"Sticks and stones, love - you saved my life, I saved yours...we'd be equal if you'd have given me an answer." I bit the inside of my cheek to save myself from standing on his toe hard.

I glared up at him - he was ever-so-slightly taller than me which unnerved me a little. "I don't owe you anything." I said, raising my chin. A one-sided smile, before he spun me around to have the chains back on my neck.

"You keep tellin' yourself that, lassie," he hissed in my ear as he started to move backwards. My heart plunged - where was he going? He wasn't kidnapping me, was he? I glanced at Norrington, who had started to move forward, his hand on his sword. "Gentlemen -" Sparrow announced. "Susanna," he said to me, "you will always remember this day as the day that you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow." The chains were whipped back from my neck, spinning me around one last time. "Many thanks for your services, girl." He grinned, before pushing me backwards so I fell at Norrington's feet. I let out a scream as soldiers surrounded me, muskets ripping at my petticoat sleeves as they raced after Sparrow.