Leira sat on a crate in the hold and looked at the floor. She sighed and looked over to a random spot. Soon, the girl found that the sting of tears blurred her sight. The drops ran down her face and dropped into her lap. Leira now sobbed openly, liking that no one could see her. She thought about her parents and their last words to her. She wished she could be with them and Anne and everything would be back to normal and not to madness.
The clamoring of footsteps coming down from the upper decks startled Leira. She slid of the crate and wiped her eyes and face on her sleeve. The man noticed this and went to hug her.
"Oh, Leira. I'm so sorry about what happened to your parents." Will broke away and set her down on the crate behind her. "You know, I, too, lost my mother and father around your age." Leira looked at him. Out of everything he had told her in confidence, he never told her this.
"I'm sorry, Will." she said.
Will continued, "I lived with both of my parents for a while, then my father left to come out here. He was a merchant sailor, or so he told me. Jack says he was a pirate. Anyway, I lived with my mother for a long time, but she died. She had taken ill with the fever. When she died, I came out here looking for my father, but I never did." William looked away from Leira. He had never really thought about his own parents that much until he actually explained his life to someone. Leira put her hand on Will's shoulder. She really didn't know what say. Nevertheless, Will appreciated the gesture.
From there, the two got caught up in a conversation about the old days when loved ones lived and times together. Meanwhile, Jack was standing at the top of the stairs, listening. He wanted to join them, for he had his own sorry tale, but never wanted to think about it again. He turned his back on the past.
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Tortuga turned out to be only a day's sailing away. That evening, the Interceptor anchored in the bay. Jack and Will got off the ship, closely followed by Leira, and started walking up the dock and towards the town. Will turned around and faced his friend.
"Mr. Turner, if you are about to say something along lines of, 'Oh, no, Leira you shouldn't come because you're not old enough nor is it suitable for you to go to a place like that.' then you should rethink that before I rethink it for you. Through all I've been through, I believe I have proven myself mature enough for this situation." Leira stormed after Jack, leaving Will dumbfounded.
"Well, she has certainly has made her point." Will muttered to himself. "Wait, Leira!" he called, running after her. "Okay, you're right. Just stay close to me." And they left off the lively town.
Jack brought them to a dark pigsty holding two buckets of water. He handed one to Will. Jack threw his bucket on a man sleeping among the dirty pigs. The man woke with a start.
"Curse you for breathing, you slack jawed idiot!" he shouted. When he realized whom it was, his expression turned more to surprise than anger. Leira guessed he was a very superstitious man when he was concerned about the bad luck from waking a man when he's sleeping. Jack countered it.
"The man who did the waking buys the man who was sleeping a drink. The man who was sleeping drinks it while listening to a proposition from the man who did the waking." Jack said hastily. The man now getting up looked satisfied. Then, Will threw the second bucket on him.
"Blast! I'm already awake!" he shouted.
"That was for the smell." Will replied simply. Leira smirked. Jack introduced them to the man.
"Will, Leira, this is Joshamee Gibbs. Gibbs." With introductions out of the way, Jack led them to a crowded tavern. Jack looked closely at Will. "Keep a sharp eye." Will did not have the slightest idea of what he was talking about. However, Jack and Gibbs had already sat a little away from the two at a small table.
The tavern was filled with a rather bawdy bunch. Drunks could be seen everywhere. Will kept Leira close to him incase of any bar fights, which appeared to happen a lot at the state of some men in the room. Will was preoccupied with listening to Jack and Gibbs's conversation but could not hear a lot over the noise in the tavern. What he could hear was something he himself has said earlier. He had heard, "…a matter of leverage…" That didn't sound too trustworthy. Leira, on the other hand, was disgusted by the acts of the men in the room. They were all drunk as were the women too. Once or twice a random man would eye Leira, too drunk to realize what he was doing. Leira threatened each one who did so. Will smirked when the man would look terrified and back away.
Soon, just as Leira was going over to them, the men had settled their conversation.
"Take what ye can," Jack held up his mug of rum.
"Give nothin' back!" Gibbs did the same and they clinked glasses and gulped the rest down. Jack got up and went over to them.
"Good. Are we leaving now?" Leira looked at him, irritated. Jack nodded and they headed for the exit. But a huge man had pulled Leira and some other drunk woman over to him. Before he could do anything, Leira punched him in the mouth. He was knocked right over the table, and of course, this triggered a huge fight. Leira left, satisfied, right after Will and Jack. They didn't even know what had happened. It was as if it never happened, except for the darkening bruise on Leira right hand.
When the three got back to the Interceptor, Leira offered to sleep below, where the crew would sleep. But Will disagreed. Leira was so annoyed with this.
"I'm not a little kid, Will! I CAN TAKE CARE OF MYSELF!!" she screamed and stormed off once again down below. Will followed a few hours later. And Jack? Jack slept off the rum he had.
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Leira woke up at dawn the next morning. She got up and pulled on her boots and vest and proceeded up the stairs to the top deck. She saw Will leaning against the side and ran over to him. "Will? I'm so sorry about what I said to you last night. I know you were just trying to do the right thing, but I can do alright by myself. I mean last night for example." She said hoping for forgiveness.
"Apology accepted." Will told her, smiling. "What happened last night?"
"Nothing." Leira said quickly. She didn't need to upset him anymore than how he is now, with Elizabeth gone. A silence followed, but was interrupted when Jack came up to them.
"Ready to inspect the crew Gibbs has sought out?" he said to them. Will had a look that clearly read, "I can't wait to see who is crazy enough to come". Leira nodded and followed the captain.
Gibbs met them on the dock and led them to a line of a variety of men. Will and Jack looked at them one by one, but Leira rather looked them over. Then she stopped at the figure of a woman just as Jack and Will did.
"Anamaria." Jack took off her hat and smiled, apparently knowing who she was.
"You stole my boat!" She hollered at him. Jack looked flustered and was about to say something when Anamaria slapped him. Leira couldn't control it. She laughed so hard in the background of the argument.
"Borrowed! Borrowed without permission and with every intention of bringing it back." Jack said quickly.
"But you didn't!"
"You'll get another one!" Jack smiled like, "please drop it!". Will piped up.
"A better one!" Jack nodded.
"A better one." Jack echoed.
"That one!" Will pointed, smiling. Jack glared at him.
"Fine," he said after a pause. "That one. What say you?"
The new crew shouted, "Aye!" and scrambled over and into the Interceptor. Gibbs came up to Jack, looking worried.
"Jack, 'tis frightful bad luck to bring a woman aboard, including this one" he said gravely pointing to Leira. She looked at him with contempt at the thing he had said. Jack however was looking up in the sky.
"It'll be far worse not to have her." He said. Then he turned around and followed his crew. Will, Leira, and Gibbs, confused, looked up into the sky where Jack had just stared up into moments ago. They looked at each other, shrugged, and hurried off after the rest.
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A/N: I had to put in that part with Leira and weird guy cuz I don't want anyone to think, "Awe, poor wittle Leira, a wittle orphan girl!" cuz that's not who she is. As she said to Will, SHE CAN TAKE CARE OF HERSELF!!! But can she take care of her sister, Anne, when she REAPPEARS!!! suspenseful music infects you all!