Hello again! It it moi, the fabulous Nardhwentheelf. I hope you are all enjoying this, and laugh a lot at this chapter coz it's quite funny, and slightly awkward in places ;) I would like to say hello to Shrimp, who apparently loves this story (so I hear from BlackestSlytherin), so here you go, Shrimp! Ok, reviews.
BlackestSlytherin: Yeah ikr! Thank you ;) Yes I know you add the detail ;) enjoy! Also I need you to read through chap 5 (when I finish it, obvs) soon so I can post another chappie.
CityOfDucks: Thank you :D yes thank you very much for coming otherwise I would be all alone :/
roseyred831: Thank you! Aha ;) I'm not telling you that :D You'll see...
It's the Pearl
Charlie's POV
Norrington's men accompanied me to the dungeon, pushing me roughly before them. Thankfully, no one recognised me- nor should they have any reason to, changed as my appearance was from when I was 13 or so- as I was shoved into a cell. Staggering, but not falling, courtesy of the prison bars, I heard the door lock behind me. Glaring at the guards, I went over to the only bench to find Jack lying on it.
"Jack." I said. "Get off the bench."
"Why should I?" He asked. I suppose it was a reasonable question. I shrugged.
"Because I want to sit on it." I was getting some pretty strange looks from the adjoining cell, but I ignored them.
"So do I." Jack replied, not opening his eyes.
"Fair enough." I muttered, lifting up my foot and placing it on the opposite side of Jack. Before he could react, I pushed him off the bench, transferring my weight to the foot on the bench so that I didn't trip over Jack as he fell to the floor. I stood on the bench, quickly sitting and then lying down. "Ahh. Thank you, Jack. That was very gallant of you." I smiled sweetly at him as he scowled at me, but made no move to push me off. I put my hat over my eyes and relaxed as much as I could on the hard wood.
(((((*((((*(((*((*(*)*))*)))*))))*)))))
I was awoken by the three prisoners in the cell next to me trying to get the dog with the keys to come to them. One of them held a loop of rope; another was waggling a bone. The dog was just sitting there and cocking his head. Smart dog.
"Come here, boy... want a nice, juicy bone?"
"You can keep doing that forever, that dog's never going to move." Jack said from where he was lying on a pile of straw.
"Excuse us if we ain't resigned ourselves to the gallows just yet." Snapped one of the inmates from the adjourning cell. Sighing, I was just about to drift off back to sleep when-
-BANG! BANG! BANG! I sat up, startled. There were more bangs.
"I know those guns!" Jack leapt up and peered out of the bars of the window. I continued to sit, quickly losing interest. What can I say? I'd seen it all before. The other prisoners gathered around their window as well. "It's the Pearl..." Jack whispered, half to himself.
"The Black Pearl?" One of the other prisoners asked, his voice quavering. "I've heard stories... she's been preying on ships and settlements for near ten years... and never leaves any survivors." I came and stood next to Jack and saw that he was smiling.
"No survivors? Then where do the stories come from, I wonder?" The man looked confused. I rolled my eyes at Jack, and in return he grinned at me. Turning around, I reached into the neighbouring cell and grabbed the bone from where it lay on the floor. Kneeling down at the front of my cell, I located the dog and whistled.
"Here, doggy." I dropped the bone just in front of me, and shuffled back half a step.
"Charlie, what are you doing?" Jack asked.
"Shut up and let me do my thing." I told him, waving him away. The dog padded over to me, looking longingly at the bone. "Come on. Drop!" I reached out my hand, palm up, and waited. I repeated the command, and to everyone's surprise, the dog dropped the keys in my hand and ran off with the bone. "Good boy." I praised him as he disappeared. I turned, and smirked at Jack, who was standing there with a confused look on his face.
"How did you do that?" I smiled superiorly.
"It's the feminine touch, Jackie. Not something you'd know much about." I went to unlock our door, but then the walls of the cell exploded inward. I was thrown against the bars, pieces of debris hitting my back. Groaning, I unlocked the door and fell out of it. "That's gonna bruise." I moaned. Looking back, I saw that the cannon blast had created a large hole in the wall, but it was centred in the other cell.
"Praise be!" The prisoners scrambled out of the hole without a second glance back. I yanked Jack up and pulled him out the door. Grabbing our effects, I unlocked the next cell. We rushed in and out through the hole, scrambling down the side of the building. We reached the bottom in no time. I turned to Jack once we had stopped.
"What now?" Jack paused.
"Hmm..." I rolled my eyes.
"Come on. We can hide under a longboat until everyone's gone." Jack grinned.
"I know! We can hide under a longboat until everyone's gone!" I sighed, setting off in the direction of the beach.
I knew all the nooks and crannies of Port Royale, having lived there for 13 years. We made it to the beach in good time. Waiting until there was no one directly around, we rushed to a longboat. I lifted it up and we ducked under. It was quite tight underneath the boat, and Jack and I were quite close together. Before he could say anything, I made some rules.
"Right. You don't touch me, and-" I drew a line in the sand between us. "Don't cross this line." I could tell Jack was tempted to put a finger over the line, but he didn't.
"Yes, ma'am." I rolled my eyes at him, took off my hat, and went to sleep.
(((((*((((*(((*((*(*)*))*)))*))))*)))))
"Charlie. Charlie! You are a very heavy sleeper. Wake up!" Finally, Jack's whisper-yelling woke me up. I blinked sleepily, and then came fully awake, realising where we were.
"Aww, we're still in the boat."
"Aye. I couldn't bloody well move it with you asleep." I shrugged. "That boy I was fighting... you knew him." I sighed, nodding. "Who is he? He looked very familiar."
"That, Jack, was the son of William Turner." Jack's eyes widened.
"Bootstrap's son?"
"Aye." I could tell Jack was dying to ask more questions, but then I heard footsteps approaching us. I put a hand over Jack's mouth and we lay silent. The footsteps stopped right next to our boat. I silently swore. The side of the boat lifted up slowly...
... and I saw Will looking down at us with a faintly embarrassed look.
"I'm very sorry, did I interrupt something?" I looked at Will with horror. Jack put an arm around me.
"Yes, actually, you did. I think you should leave." I thwacked Jack's arm, and called him a few foul names, at the same time shuffling away from him. When I looked back at Will, his eyes were wide.
"You're the pirates. Why are you here?" Jack and I shrugged.
"Well we are pirates, but we're not the pirates who were-" This time Jack clapped his hand over my mouth.
"Charlie was asleep." I rolled my eyes, removing the offending appendage. Will crouched down.
"Look. You will help me, or I will turn you in." Jack and I exchanged a heavy glance, and I began to weigh the options. Trade in our new-found freedom or run the risk of my identity being revealed. Hmmm... then again… spend more time around Norrington or be around a childhood friend for a while…my decision made I nodded slightly. Jack looked back at Will.
"What is it you want to know?" Will looked a little surprised at quick- relatively speaking-cooperation, but quickly recovered.
"You are familiar with that ship - the Black Pearl?"
"I've heard of it." I let the boys do the negotiating and began to snooze lightly.
"Where does it make berth?"
"Where does it make berth?" Jack repeated. "Have you not heard the stories? Captain Barbossa and his crew of miscreants sail from the dreaded Isla de Muerta. It is an island that cannot be found except by those who already know where it is."
"The ship's real enough. Therefore its anchorage must be a real place. Where is it?"
"Why ask us?" Jack wondered.
"Because you're pirates."
"And you want to turn pirate yourself, is that it?"
"Never!" Will hesitated. "They took Miss Swann." I stiffened at the mention of my sister, coming out of my doze. I couldn't believe that Will wanted to save her. Actually I couldn't believe that Will wanted to be around the spoilt brat.
"Oh, so it is that you've found a girl. Well, if you're intending to brave all, hasten to her rescue and so win fair lady's heart, you'll have to do it alone, mate. I see no profit in it for us." Well, at least he said us.
"You will help me, or they will find you and hang you." I turned to Jack.
"Personally, I would help him rather than get hanged."
"What's your name, boy?" I rolled my eyes.
"Will Turner."
"That will be short for William, I imagine. Good, strong name. No doubt, the name for your father, eh?"
"…Yes."
"Uh-huh. Well, Mr. Turner, I've changed me mind. If you don't turn us in, I swear on pain of death I shall take you to the Black Pearl and your bonny lass. Do we have an accord?" Will glanced at me.
"I ain't promising anything, mate." Not if it was about my sister. Jack stuck his hand out to Will.
"Agreed."
"Agreed." Jack echoed. He moved so that he wasn't lying down, he kneeling, and gestured for me to do the same. Once I had, he invited Will under the boat. Jack explained what we were going to do.
"We're going to steal that ship?" Will asked in disbelief, peeking out from under the boat at the Dauntless.
"Commandeer. We're going to commandeer that ship. Nautical term." Will dropped the boat. "One question about your business, boy, or there's no use going. This girl - how far are you willing to go to save her?"
"I'd die for her." Jack gave me an understanding glance as I turned slightly away from Will.
"Oh, good. No worries, then." Jack then outlined what we were going to do next.
"That's ridiculous!" I told him. "It's so much more suspicious than just walking about in the open. We might as well be doing a tribal dance or something!"
"That's racist." Jack told me. I sighed.
(((((*((((*(((*((*(*)*))*)))*))))*)))))
Amazingly, Jack's plan actually worked. We got underwater with a good sized air bubble, and were now walking along the sea bed.
"This is either madness, or brilliance." Will commented. I was just struggling to keep my head above water. I wasn't as tall as the two men.
"It's remarkable how often those two traits coincide." Finally, I was tired of nearly drowning.
"You know," I remarked. "Some of us aren't as tall as you." I was looking at Jack. He shrugged, not looking at me. I sighed, and did what I had to do. I jumped onto Jack's back and hung on.
"What are you doing?" I shrugged.
"Being a spidermonkey, I guess."
"A spidermonkey?" Jack asked.
"I don't know. I really, you know, wanted to be able to breathe, so here I am." Jack sighed, but didn't try and shake me off.
Eventually, we got to the Dauntless. The two men were discussing tactical ways to get aboard the ship, but I took a deep breath, ducked out from under the boat, and swam up to the surface. When I broke the surface, I took a couple of deep breaths, and then began to climb up the side of the ship. I was about halfway up when the boys came up. I smiled and waved down at them. I scrambled to a ledge, and sat down to wait for them.
"That took a while." I remarked to them when they reached me. Jack just rolled his eyes at me, and I completely ignored Will. He obviously preferred my sister over me, even if he didn't know I was me, and so I was going to talk to him as little as possible. Call it petty, but I really liked him.
We reached the deck of the ship in no time. Jack, leading the way, yelled:
"Everyone stay calm! We are taking over the ship." Jack and I ran quickly down the stairs, whilst Will, obviously trying to show off, jumped over the bannister.
"Aye! Avast!" He said. The men laughed. I gave Will a look. I do like him and all, but what a total idiot.
"This ship cannot be crewed by two men." One of the men said, obviously a leader of some sort. He glared at Jack and Will but ignored me. "You'll never make it out of the bay." Jack pointed his pistol at the man's nose.
"Son... I'm Captain Jack Sparrow. Savvy?" He cocked his gun. I did the same and pointed it at the same man. He looked incredibly frightened.
"Into the boat. Now." I told them. The men rushed to obey.
So a little while later, the ship was ours, without a shot being fired. Quite an achievement. I rushed about, trying to ready the ship, since Will wasn't any help whatsoever. He had clearly never been on a proper ship before. I noticed that the other big ship, the Interceptor, had begun to sail towards us.
"Here they come." I said. Jack smiled.
The Interceptor soon reached us. The soldiers boarded the Dauntless, and I heard Norrington saying:
"Search every cabin, every hold, down to the bilges." Jack gestured for me to swing onto the Interceptor, so I did. I was closely followed by the two men. I nicked Will's hammer-type-thing and began to cut the ropes joining the two ships together. "Sailors! Back to the Interceptor! Now!" I heard Norrington yell as we began to sail away. We were already too far. One brave sailor tried to swing across, but fell short with a splash. Jack smiled and waved to Norrington.
"Thank you, Commodore, for getting us ready to make way. We'd have had a hard time of it by ourselves." I grinned, waving my hat to the sailors on the Dauntless. I saw Norrington and another sailor talking, and the sailor gave an order, but reluctantly, I saw. Another man ran up, panting. I grinned. Apparently they'd noticed what Jack had done.
"Abandon ship!" I heard a cry from down below. Running to the front of the ship, I saw the men who were originally in the Dauntless leaping out of their boat before it was shattered against the Interceptor's hull. I grinned at their terrified faces. It was fun scaring people.
Once we were safely out of the bay, I strode over to Jack.
"I'm going to the crow's nest. Call if you need me." The last bit was kind of tradition. I probably wouldn't come down unless we were under fire, and Jack knew it. He nodded, and I darted off to the rigging, and easily clambered up to the top. Once at the top, I knelt in the barrel, dropping my pretence of being alright. I silently swore at people; Will for not knowing who I was and liking Elizabeth, Elizabeth for making Will like her, Jack for bringing me to Port Royale in the first place, my father for not understanding, Norrington for just being a bloody prat, and myself because I needed someone else to swear at. When I finally looked back down at the two men on the deck, I saw that Will was dangling over the sea, holding onto the boom. Good. I hoped he drowned. As I watched, Jack spun the wheel and brought Will back onto the ship. Damn. He pointed a sword at Will, and then flipped it so that he was holding the blade. Will took the sword, asking something. Jack replied, grinning. I shrugged, looking east. It was all clear, so I came back down to the deck, composure regained. "Where're we headed, Captain?" I asked. Jack probably wouldn't reply if I addressed him differently. I sighed inwardly.
"Tortuga."
Disclaimer: I don't own POTC, but anything unrecognisable belongs to me.
So, what did ya think! Please R&R, if you do, I shall update soon and you will all get a warm piece of chocolate fudge cake ;) virtual, though. Later!