- Author's Note - Hey, guys!
Wow, it has been a while, and I apologize for that. I'd kind of just gotten to a point where I'd exhausted all of my writing energy, as I had multiple stories going at once, and all were pretty successful, so it was a bit overwhelming, trying to keep them all updated, and do so with the quality level of writing I hold myself up to.
But, lately, I've been wanting to get back into my writing, and some friends of mine recently watched the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, so it got me thinking mainly on this story, and I got a bunch of new ideas for it.
Anyway, before we continue, a couple of notes:
Previously, I stated that Lucinda was 19 years old, but, upon looking up the PotC timeline, I realize she should actually be 20, which is how old Elizabeth and Will are, so Lucinda is now 20.
Also, Lucinda is now portrayed by someone different. When I first wrote this story, I believe I was using model Bridget Satterlee, but now I'll be using model Candice Swanepoel. I have added links to her to my profile, she is also the new Cover Image for this story, as well as put back up links to the other original characters, such as Uncle Archibald and Inara. These will be updated as we go, should further new characters be introduced.
I may be tweaking the Killian storyline, as well as a few other things, so keep an eye out for those, and, if you have questions, let me know, but, for now, let's finally get on with the story!
I hope you all enjoy, and PLEASE review!
Lucinda couldn't remember the last time she'd had a bath so wonderful, nor worn something so fresh, soft, and all around comfortable, when Elizabeth helped her into one of her own long, flowing, white nightgowns, once Lucinda was out of her bath, and had been dried off, including her hair, which resumed its usual, soft, loosely curled state, in addition to now smelling of roses, after being shampooed.
"I don't ever wish to take this off," Lucinda said to Elizabeth, with a soft smile, holding, for the first time, emotions she hadn't felt in years, those of contentment, warmth, and joy, as she smoothed her slender hands down the sides of her body, delightful chills running all over her sun kissed skin, at feeling the silky fabric of the nightgown against it.
Elizabeth laughed, while she finished pulling her friend's hair free of the collar of the nightgown. "One can't blame you." She flicked a glance over at where Estrella, one of the Maids, was gathering up their guest's discarded clothing. "Those appear quite lived in."
"What would you like me to do with these, Miss Belle?" inquired Estrella, straightening up with the dirty items in her arms.
Lucinda turned her eyes down onto the clothing she'd been wearing, a pile of a reminder of what she'd been through, and just finally escaped.
"Burn them," she replied, not missing a beat, words that caused Elizabeth, Estrella, and the other Maid in the room, who was closing the curtains, after turning down the bedding, so that Lucinda could sleep, to look at her with surprise.
"Why don't you take them downstairs for now, Estrella?" offered Elizabeth, continuing when the Maid sent her a nod. "Thank you."
"Would you like me to unpack that for you, Miss?" Estrella asked next, indicating what she was speaking of, that being the small bag of belongings Lucinda had arrived with.
Lucinda followed the woman's gaze, then shook her head, offering the Maid a soft smile. "No, thank you. I'll do so myself."
"Yes, Miss," replied Estrella, giving both Lucinda and Elizabeth a quick respectful curtsy, before she and the other Maid left the room, the latter closing the door behind them.
"Here," spoke Elizabeth, once they were alone, gesturing at the more than inviting looking bed. "Climb in."
Lucinda brushed past her friend, leaving a trail of sweet rose smelling air in her wake, pausing by the side of the bed that was open to her, in order to gaze down at it in joy. She hadn't slept in a proper bed since she was a child.
At her family's Estate in England, she'd had an enormous canopy feathered bed in her large room, that Jack would joke nearly swallowed her whole, when her tiny frame climbed into it, in the too long and wide nightgown she already had on.
"Well, go on," giggled Elizabeth, at the look on the fellow young woman's face. "It won't bite."
Lucinda laughed sheepishly, then lifted a knee onto the mattress, using her slender hands to raise up the skirt of her nightgown, as she did so, and climbed in, next sliding her legs under the thick comfortable, and leaning back against the plush pillows, while Elizabeth covered her.
"Oh, my gosh," breathed Lucinda, knowing she would happily let this bed swallow her, at the feeling of the soft linens against her skin, and the thick, feather filled mattress beneath her. "I revise my previous statement. I never wish to leave this nightgown and this bed."
Elizabeth smiled, while she sat, facing her friend, on the side of the mattress. Lucinda could tell she was dying to ask her what had happened to her, between her Mother's death and now, but she was holding back out of kindness and respect.
"Elizabeth," Lucinda said, reaching out to grab the young woman's hand with her own slender one. "It's all right. You may ask me."
She huffed out a breath, and offered her friend an apologetic smile. "I'm so sorry, Belle. I feel horrible. But my curiosity is eating away at me." Her brow furrowing, she went on, giving a gentle shake of her curly light brown head as she did so. "What happened? I still remember Mother and Father coming home after going to look for you and your brother at your Estate, and telling me you were gone. Where's. . . Jack? Was that his name?"
"Yes, that was his name," Lucinda replied sadly. She didn't blame Elizabeth for not clearly remembering it, as her big brother was rarely on the grounds when the Weatherbys were around. He took more after their Father, craving freedom, and independence, not being saddled to some stuck up rich family that wasn't even his own. So, whenever he learned they were coming, he'd take one of the horses from the stables, and ride the hour long trek into town, where he'd spend his allowance on alcohol, tobacco, and girls. "Jack. . . Jack died quite some time ago."
"Oh, my gosh!" breathed Elizabeth, lifting her other hand to grasp the one of Lucinda's she was already holding. "I'm so sorry, Belle."
"It's all right," said Lucinda, offering her a reassuring smile. "I miss him. I do. Just as I miss my Mother, and all the others I've lost, but I know they wouldn't want me to live my life grieving them." Sighing, she added on. "Not that it always helps."
"So, where have you been since your brother's death?" Elizabeth asked. "Your Uncle never stopped looking for you. How did you never find one another?"
Lucinda laughed softly. She didn't mean to, but she couldn't help it. "I was kept well hidden, trust me, Elizabeth."
"What does that mean?" her friend inquired next, before realization dawned, and her face took on a horrified expression. "Oh, no. Belle, no. The Pirates that attacked last night?"
Lucinda could only nod, then averted her gaze to the bed. She had no reason to feel guilt or shame, yet she still did. "After our Mother died, Jack was convinced we were going to put in an Orphanage, despite the fact we still had family out there, especially our Uncle. He said our Uncle would never be trusted with us, after losing his wife and his son. 'He's gone mad'," Jack would say." Sniffling, Lucinda paused, then went on. "So, we ran away. Jack said our best bet was to find our Father."
Elizabeth shook her head, meeting the young woman's gaze when she lifted it back to her. "I thought you never knew your Father."
"I didn't," Lucinda confirmed. "But Jack met him a couple of times before I was born. He had a name, a face, and so off we went. I depended on Jack for everything. I was just a child. He would steal money, food, clothing, anything we needed." She nodded over at the small bag of her few personal affects on the dresser across the room. "I took some things, before we left the Estate, but I never let Jack find out. I was afraid he'd sell them."
"That's horrible," spoke Elizabeth. "I. . . do not wish to speak ill of the dead, but your brother was incredibly foolish, and cruel, to take you away from the safety of your family's Estate, and into a life on the run."
"He was afraid we'd be separated," Lucinda replied, with a shrug of her slender shoulders. "We were all we had left. I'm not condoning what he did, but he did it with the best intentions."
"Yes, and the path to Hell is paved with good intentions," Elizabeth sighed, to which Lucinda didn't respond. She understood, of course. She'd spent a lot of time hating Jack, for dragging her into the life of a Pirate, and then proceeding to leave her in the hands of the cruelest man alive, sort of, even though his mutiny wasn't his fault. It was Barbossa's. "So, how did you end up with the Pirates from last night?"
"They were Jack's crew, the ship used to be his, but his First Mate betrayed him, marooned him on an Island," Lucinda answered, the sound of her friend's voice drawing her from her thoughts. "I wasn't."
"Oh, my gosh," breathed Elizabeth once more, at the newest revelation, this one that Lucinda, a child, had been left in the hands of Pirates for years, and only just managed to escape last night. "Belle."
Leaning forward, she wrapped her arms around her friend's slender form, and drew her into a loving, warm embrace.
"What you must've been through," Elizabeth said, as she held Lucinda in her arms.
Lucinda couldn't help but laugh softly once more, even while she gratefully hugged the young woman in return, doing her best to keep the past years from flashing before her eyes at her words, but she wasn't completely successful, especially when, as she embraced her friend, she caught sight of the scars on her own wrists at Elizabeth's back from her suicide attempt. "You have no idea."
Pulling away, Elizabeth settled back in her previous spot, taking up both of her friend's hands with her own this time, and smiled sweetly. "Well, you don't have to worry about that any longer. You're safe now, here with us, your family, and we'll never let anyone hurt you again."
Lucinda returned her smile with one of her own, though hers was much weaker. "I wish I could believe you, Elizabeth." Taking in a deep breath, she next released it, as she shifted her eyes over onto the curtain covered windows. "But I'll never feel safe, truly safe, until that crew, especially its Captain, are rotting at the bottom of the ocean."
Before Elizabeth could respond, a thought returned to Lucinda's mind, and she moved her gaze back to her friend, her brow now furrowed. "What did you mean earlier? When I asked if they'd hurt you, and you said not those Pirates."
The darker haired young woman slowly took in a deep breath of her own, then released it, before shaking her curly head. "Your Uncle's right. I shouldn't burden you with it."
"Elizabeth, please," implored Lucinda, squeezing her friend's hands. "I need to know. Are there others here in Port Royal? Other Pirates?"
"Don't worry, Belle," Elizabeth responded, giving her slender limbs a reassuring tug. "They've been captured, and are awaiting the Hangman's Noose. They were supposed to be executed tomorrow, but I presume the attack has postponed that for a bit."
"Who are they?" Lucinda asked, her brow furrowing afresh. "What did they do to you?"
"Well, they actually saved my life," said Elizabeth, laughing softly at the surprised expression on her friend's beautiful face. "I know. I wouldn't have believed it if it hadn't happened to me." Shifting a bit in her place, she went on. "Yesterday was Commodore Norrington's promotion ceremony."
"He told me of that," replied Lucinda, with a nod of her golden blond head.
"He proposed to me," Elizabeth went on, a bright smile tugging at the corners of her lips.
"What?" Lucinda answered, a brilliant grin of her own lighting up her features. "Elizabeth, that's wonderful!"
"However, I didn't get a chance to answer him," said the brunette. "See, Father gave me this beautiful dress to wear, but it came with a corset. Do you know of those?"
"Yes," said Lucinda, with a roll of her eyes. "Dreadful things."
"They are indeed," sighed Elizabeth. "I ended up passing out, and I fell over into the water. That's the last thing I remember. The next thing is waking up on the docks, soaking wet, just in my underclothes, with a dreadful looking man hovering over me." She paused, soon going on. "Commodore Norrington, my Father, and soldiers soon arrived, and my Father wanted the Pirates arrested. It was a man and a woman."
"Then what happened?" Lucinda asked, hanging off of her friend's every word, since it wasn't exactly common to hear of Pirates doing good.
"I told the Commodore that, despite being Pirates, they'd saved my life," Elizabeth continued. "But James said, "One good deed is not enough to redeem a man or a woman of a lifetime of wickedness."
Lucinda laughed once more, as Elizabeth had playfully deepened her voice in order to speak the man's exact words.
"Nonetheless, they were both handcuffed, and the man got his shackles around my neck, while the woman managed to grab one of the soldier's pistols, and aimed it at the men," Elizabeth went on.
"Pirates are resourceful, if nothing else," Lucinda admitted, going on with a shake of her head, and a freshly furrowed brow. "How did you escape?"
"The man pushed me away once he and the woman had gotten enough distance from the soldiers to run," explained Elizabeth. "They opened fire, of course, but the pair still managed to escape. They were captured later though, at the Blacksmith Shop. They'd gone there in an attempt to be free of their chains."
"The Blacksmith Shop?" Lucinda spoke up, as her mind instantly flashed to Will. "That's where Will Turner works, isn't it?"
"Yes," replied Elizabeth, surprised she knew the young man's name, not to mention where he resided in the town. "How do you know Will?"
"I don't," Lucinda answered. "During the chaos last night, I saw him fighting the crew, and he got hit o the head by one of them, so, I stayed with him until morning. That's how I met James. He was passing by with some of his men, and I asked him to help me get Will home." Pausing, she quirked a curious brow, once Elizabeth had processed that information. "How do you know him? Are you and Will. . . ?"
"Oh, no. No," Elizabeth responded, before laughing softly. "I would be lying if I said I did not find him a very handsome and charming young man, but we're only friends, ever since we rescued him on the crossing from England eight years ago."
"You were on the ship that saved him?" Lucinda exclaimed in disbelief. The World was truly becoming a smaller place to her. "Incredible."
"It seems fate," Elizabeth said, smiling. "All of us finding one another, then being separated, only to find one another again."
Lucinda smiled softly in return, giving her friend's hands a gentle squeeze. "It would appear so."
"Well, I believe that is enough for now," spoke Elizabeth, rising from her spot on the bed. "It's time you got some rest, sister."
"Elizabeth," Lucinda quickly replied, grasping the young woman's hand once more. "You must promise me you'll keep what we spoke of between us. No one can know."
"I promise," Elizabeth reassured her, before leaning down to grace the top of Lucinda's golden blond, rose smelling head with a kiss. "Call if you need anything."
"I will," spoke Lucinda, offering her friend a fresh soft smile. "Thank you, Elizabeth."
She returned her gesture, then turned, pausing to blow out the candles and lanterns, causing the room to fall into further darkness, before she left, closing the door behind her.
Lucinda waited until she could no longer hear Elizabeth's footsteps to get out of bed, and walk over to where the small bag of her personal possessions rest on the dresser.
Grabbing it, she returned to her previous position with it, and opened the bag in her lap, reaching in to grab the first item, which was her soft white crocheted baby blanket, that was decorated with a purple ribbon, and had her name embroidered on it.
Smiling softly, if not a bit sadly, Lucinda lifted it to her beautiful face, and rubbed its softness against her cheek, before setting it down in her lap once more, and reaching into her bag to fetch the next item.
Lucinda pulled out a gold cross, one which her Mother wore until the day she died, and cradled it in the palm of one of her hands, unable to help the slight sheet of tears that filled her blue eyes at the sight of it, before she undid the clasp, then secured the necklace around her neck.
After doing so, Lucinda placed the bag on the floor by her bed, then sank down beneath the covers, cradling her baby blanket to her chest, and she was fast asleep the moment her silky loosely curled golden blond head touched the pillows.
Author's Note - Okay, guys. A short Chapter, I know.
I was going to make it longer, but I wanted to get something posted. Plus, I want to see how many, if any, are still interested in this story.
We'll get back to Will next Chapter, and Jack and Inara most likely the Chapter after that.
Anyway, don't forget to check out the new links in my Profile, and, if you enjoyed this Chapter, and/or are excited about the story's return, please let me know with a review!