Disclaimer: I do not own Beauty and the Beast, Pirates of the Caribbean, or Assassin's Creed. Oh, and I don't own the song "Yo Ho, a Pirate's Life for Me," either.

Vanessa, 1767

Vanessa peered closer to the rippling water. The thing was white, she could see that much, and it was rapidly growing larger. Then everything clicked and she realized what it was she was seeing. She lurched back with a gasp.

Water surged up from the fountain around the white body lunging out of it. It was the Leviathan, but his form had changed again. Now he—it—was a much smaller version of its enormous pale fish, but still longer than Vanessa was tall. Vanessa herself was soaked, her rags plastering themselves instantly to her skin.

By the time she had wiped the water from her eyes he had made the change to his mostly human form, standing before her. His mouth was open in a terrible snarl. For the first few seconds, at least. His opaque eyes flickered, up and down, taking in her wet and cowering form, and he seemed to soften just the littlest bit. Or perhaps that was only her imagination.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded roughly, pointed teeth flashing. "Did I not tell you to stay out of any cave you found?"

All of Vanessa's terror had come rushing back to her at the sight of his snarl and she couldn't force her mouth to work. Her lips moved, her tongue twitched, but nothing came out. Finally, she managed a small noise. "Ah—" She eyed his teeth, and tried again. "I…"

The terrible eyes flickered again. Only later would Vanessa's brain register what she thought she'd seen there: humor. "How did you come to be here?" he asked. Then, as if sensing her fear of his teeth, he closed his mouth immediately afterwards. But it was clear he would wait as much time as need be for her answer.

"I did not mean…"

"Did not mean what?" he prompted when she fell silent again.

But that was too much for her. She whimpered and took a sideways step away from him. He lunged forward, arm out to yank her away, and she shrank away even more earnestly at the sight of him preparing to touch her again. What she didn't realize until too late was that her foot had hit a slippery edge of the fountain. With a shriek she toppled into the water.

A force pulled her downward. No matter how she struggled the light got further and further away. She twisted and fought, but it was useless. There was no more light.

-0-0-

The calm woman's voice speaks again.

"Fast forwarding memory to a more recent one."

Gentle blue mist, computer code.

It clears to more rolling blue.

-0-0-

Vanessa opened her eyes to light, and wet, and cold. For the second time in as many days, she coughed and spat out water until there was none left in her lungs. It was only then that she noticed where she was: in the middle of the ocean. The little island was nowhere in sight. Only rolling blue waves in every direction. Her first reaction was relief. The next was panic.

How had she gotten here? She remembered the fountain, the Leviathan, and falling into the water well enough. She remembered being pulled down into the darkness. Why wasn't she dead, drowned in the endless depths of that strange stone geyser? Had she really traveled so far that the island was no longer in sight? Where was she, then? And for that matter, how was she still afloat?

A slight pressure at her back made her spin clumsily, her arms windmilling and feet kicking frantically. When she saw the grey back, she thought it was the Leviathan again, and began to thrash some more. Then she saw that it was much too dark a grey, and far too small to be him, though it was in the same shape.

The back, with its proudly curved fin, different from the Leviathan's cruel razor blade, sank out of sight. A moment later, the face belonging to the body surfaced to look Vanessa in the eye. It had a long, pointed nose and sharp teeth, not unlike the great fish she feared, but its eyes were too far backswept. Less predatory. There was a distinct glint of mischief present that was totally absent from the Leviathan's cold eyes as well.

"Greetings," Vanessa whispered. "Was it you who saved me?"

A high-pitched chatter like laughter was her answer. She took it to mean yes.

"Thank you." She reached forward to brush her fingers across the creature's smooth grey skin. It permitted this for but a few moments, then chattered again and sank from sight.

"Wait!" Vanessa cried, her voice a hoarse croak, but her mysterious friend did not return. Kicking frantically, she just managed to stay afloat as wave after wave smacked her face. Wiping salt from her eyes, she thought she saw a black shape before her. The next time she looked, she was certain. The shape was a ship, a large one, and it was headed straight for her. How it came to be there, she didn't care. It was her one chance at escape.

With all her strength she yelled and splashed. Her reward was faint shouts in return and a slight altering of the ship's course so it wouldn't go over her. As it drew closer, she saw human shapes on deck pointing at her in the water. She noted the cracked and weatherbeaten figurehead: a winged woman holding a dove aloft as if in prayer.

A man came scaling down the side as the ship pulled close. He was a rough-looking fellow with skin marked by sun and scars and a leer she didn't like. Vanessa would have shrunk from him, but how else was she to get aboard? She took the offered arm, and he pulled her close.

"I've got'er, gents!" he bellowed. "Haul us up!"

Shouts from above. Up the side they went, bouncing against the rough wood the whole way. Looking up, Vanessa could see the ship's sails. They were not the usual white; instead they were sun-bleached grey that had once been black. She also noted something she had not seen earlier: the black flag flying from the mast with a white skull upon it.

Pirates. She was now the captive of pirates.

Another thump against the ship's side brought her face-to-face with its name, lovingly painted on the sea-battered wood.

The words read: Black Pearl.

-0-0-

Robin, 2017

The transition back to herself was much more peaceful than it had been in previous sessions, Robin thought. There was no jolt, no sudden realization. She just blinked as Vanessa Swift and opened her eyes to Robin Grey.

Kyle sat in his rolling chair a few feet away. He was still focused on his computer screen, but when she sat up he looked at her.

"Vanessa can't catch a break, can she?" asked Robin as she slid down from the Animus table. "Constant harassment, a shipwreck, mythical monsters, losing her father, and now this?"

"I told you we thought she ran into pirates at some point," Kyle replied, looking back at his screen. Robin came around to look at what he'd recorded. He glanced at her, then quickly pushed a few buttons. She had enough time to see an image of the fountain in the cave before the screen went dark.

So that's what they're looking for. Vanessa--and I--knew there must be something special about it. She didn't comment, but stored that thought away for later.

Dinner was laid out on the table, as usual. Tonight it was tacos.

"I did notice one thing," Robin commented several minutes into the silent meal.

"Hmmm?" said Kyle through a mouthful of meat.

"Vanessa looks just like me. I finally saw her face in the reflection in the fountain. She's thinner, but if her hair were shorter and she had the highlights," here Robin tugged at one of her own short strands, "and pierced nose and ears, we could be the same person."

Kyle swallowed his food. "She's probably thinner because we have much more nutrients in our food today. And you are descended from her."

"But it's a weird coincidence, don't you think?"

"Mm-hm." Clearly this was an uninteresting train of thought for him. Annoyed again, Robin finished eating without another word. She spent a restless night, seeing over and over again the black sails approaching on the horizon, the carved figurehead constantly hit with spray so that she seemed to be weeping as she held her dove aloft. A small girl's voice—her own, perhaps?—sang in her ears:

"We pillage, we plunder, we rifle and loot.

Drink up me hearties, yo-ho.

We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot.

Drink up me hearties, yo-ho…"

The song was still going through her head all morning, despite her attempts to think of other things. She barely heard Kyle, thought she knew he spoke to her and she somehow answered. It was the last thing she heard as the blue mist of the Animus closed around her.

-0-0-

Vanessa

"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!

We extort, we pilfer, we filch, and sack.

Drink up, me hearties, yo-ho.

Maraud and embezzle, and even highjack.

Drink up, me hearties, yo-ho!"

The first thing Vanessa heard as she set her bare feet on the Black Pearl was some of the crew singing cheerfully in the rigging. Their good humor seemed very much out of place given how dreadful in appearance they all were. Wild hair and sunburned skin, scars everywhere imaginable, and tattoos everywhere else. Some were even missing eyes, or worse, arms or legs.

A man in a feathered cap stomped down from the forecastle. He looked just as dreadful as his men, though his clothes were of better quality and he carried himself with an air of authority. From this she gathered that he must be the captain of this formidable vessel. He gave her a leer, showing strong yellowed teeth.

"Welcome aboard the Black Pearl, Miss…"

Vanessa was disinclined to give her name, but there was no alternative and she could think of no quick lie to tell. "Swift, sir. Vanessa Swift."

"Miss Swift, then. I am Captain Barbossa, and these lazy dogs," he shot a glare at the men who'd gathered around to gawk, "be my ill-mannered crew."

Immediately, most of the men found excuses to be elsewhere. Those who hadn't got the hint were tugged away by their brighter neighbors.

Barbossa grinned again. "And how does a lovely maid such as yourself come to be so far out at sea, if ye don't mind me askin'? There be no land about for leagues. Here ye scaberous sea rats," he bellowed suddenly, "can a blanket be found for the lady?"

One of the men brought forward a slightly stained wool blanket, which Captain Barbossa himself draped over her shoulders.

"I was shipwrecked, sir. In the storm two nights past."

"Ah, yes." Barbossa smiled, as if reminiscing. "That would break up a ship of weaker beams than the Pearl. But she's weathered worse in her time and always come about." He patted the rail fondly. "Were ye the only survivor?"

"I couldn't say, sir. The rest of the crew and passengers escaped in the boats."

"Leavin' ye behind? Hardly chivalrous." Barbossa raised a thick eyebrow.

"My father had gone below to fetch things from the hold," Vanessa admitted. "I refused my place on the boat to follow him." She rubbed her arm, remembering Captain Kerry's grip.

"Ah. Noble of ye, girl. So ye've been out here alone for two days, then? Ye'll pardon this, but ye don't look mad. And what of yer father? Should we be keepin' an eye on the horizon for him as well?"

"No."

"No?"

"We landed on an island together. There was a boat for one, and he left to find help." She wasn't about to mention the Leviathan. Then she would sound mad.

"And island, then?" Suddenly Barbossa was looming over her. "Whereabouts, would ye say?"

"I-I don't know," she stammered. "I thought it must be close by, but when I fell into the fountain—"

Two hard hands gripped her shoulders, and Vanessa was forced to stare the man straight in the eye. She struggled, but could not escape his hold. "What know ye of the Fountain?" he demanded. She heard the capital letter in the word.

Vanessa could only shake her head, tears of fright streaming down her face.

"Sworn to secrecy, are ye? We'll soon disabuse ye of that. Gents," he called to two passing crewmen, "Lock'er in the brig, till she's ready to talk. She knows of the Fountain, and refuses to divulge."

It seemed as if the entire crew was glaring at her now. Whimpering with terror, she was dragged to the bowels of the ship, where the floors were damp with seawater and terrible smells drifted in the air, to a corner built like a cage. There was a dark figure, vaguely man-sized, in the shadows inside. A soft crooning song came from him, and as they approached Vanessa heard the last few words, to a familiar tune:

"…and really bad eggs.

Drink up, me hearties, yo-ho…"

"It seems ye've got some company, Captain," snarled one of Vanessa's escorts as he unlocked the door and hurled her inside.

"Ah, good. And here I was getting' so lonely down in the bowels all by me onesy," returned the prisoner as casually as if they were sitting around a supper table. Vanessa scrabbled away from him on her hands and knees until she was wedged into a corner.

"This is company?" the man called after the crewmen's retreating backs, "You brought me a mouse. Rum would have been preferred to keep me warm!"

The second of the two crewmen simply spat at the cage and climbed the ladder without a word.

After a few moments of silence, the man in the corner said, "Rest easy now, mouse. We'll be deprived of their pleasant company for a few days." He paused, and when Vanessa didn't move, he chuckled. "Not one to trust a dishonest pirate, then. Clever little thing, you are."

He moved enough that she could see him in the dim light from the ladder. He was a tall man, dark and swarthy, with hair that had been braided into many separate locks for so long a time the locks were matted. These hung from beneath a dirty red headcloth decorated here and there with coins and trinkets. He wore filthy pirates' clothing, and Vanessa would quickly learn he was fond of making extravagant gestures as he spoke that caused his loose sleeves to flutter constantly. Last of all she noticed he had a short beard that was also braided into small strands and hung with beads. He was right; she didn't trust him at all, but she also couldn't help liking the casually cheerful attitude he seemed to display towards everything.

"Captain Jack Sparrow," he said with a deeply flourished bow. "Perhaps you've heard of me?" She shook her head. "Ah, well." Another pause. Then, "You've a name, Miss Mouse?"

"V-Vanessa Swift," she managed, as it seemed he expected an answer.

"A pleasure. So," he settled himself to the floor with his back against the wall, "now that we're all sorted on formalities, what're you in for?"

"Captain Barbossa," at her words, Sparrow made a face, "wants me to tell him about the Fountain. But I—" She stopped, for she could see that her companion had come alert.

"What do you know of the Fountain?" he asked, echoing Barbossa.

"Hardly anything. What do you know of it?"

He sat back. "So the mouse's got teeth. The Fountain, which you know more than nothing about, is the Fountain of Youth. The very one which every Spaniard for years now has spent his last breath searching for, and quite a few people who are not Spaniards. Barbossa and his miscreant crew are in possession of a maddeningly unhelpful set of charts showing where it lies, ones that they borrowed off me onesy without permission, savvy?"

"You mean they stole it from you?"

"Knew you were a smart mouse. One of several things they've removed from my care over the years." Jack put a hand on the part of the wall that was the Black Pearl's timbers.

This explained quite a bit more than it didn't. Despite the crew's apparent scorn and his current position in the brig, Jack Sparrow had once been captain of the Black Pearl.

Suddenly the ship shivered, and echoes of shouts filtered down the ladder hole.

"Oh, bugger," muttered Sparrow, leaping to his feet.

"What was that?" Vanessa quavered.

"Nothing good, mousey. I can promise you that."


Author's Note: At last, the Pearl, Barbossa, and Jack have made an appearance! And you doubted me.

I do want to make one small point. Though the Beauty and the Beast part seems to just be with Vanessa in the past, this story is just as much Robin's as hers and we'll probably be spending equal amounts of time with each of them when it all averages out. Just a small warning so nobody feels like I'm having trouble staying focused on the "real" story or anything like that. It's all to a purpose.

Thanks!

SamoaPhoenix9