AN./ Another major plot bunny is soon to be revealed! Thanks to all of you readers and reviewers! I am so glad that you are still enjoying this story! Sorry that this chapter is so short… Chapter 12 will be up in a bit!

OK! So I am SHAKING with excitement! I have been waiting to get to this chapter forever. I love it! Please let me know what you think!

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~ Silvertongued Dreams


Disclaimer: I do not own PotC, but a girl can dream, and dream, I must!


Chapter Eleven: Of Powers Unknown

"Pirates! Oh, good God!" Lana shrieked: raising her hands over her head of copper-red hair as she rose unsteadily to her feet: her eyes still on the door.

"Shh! Be quiet: they are coming!" I exclaimed in a harsh and desperate whisper.

"Ariana… you are bleeding," Lana pointed out, gesturing to my forehead.

My jaw hung agape as I took in the fact that she had just called me, for the first time, by my Christian name… but my surprise was soon replaced with alarm as I realized that she was right. I quickly rushed over to the broken mirror on the floor, picking up a shard of glass and quickly examined the wound. Sure enough, a shard of wood had grazed me—cutting a jagged lightning-shaped wound on the left side of my forehead. I cringed as I reached a finger up to touch the blood: I had never seen so much of it before in my entire life.

"They're coming in!" Lana screeched in horror as the bar across the door started to split in twain. "What should we do?(!)"

I scoffed sarcastically: turning her words against her. "You're the human being. You tell me!"

Lana huffed, and let out an exasperated scream. Rushing towards her dresser, she overturned things, frantically searching for something that could be used as a weapon. A few seconds later, she re-emerged, a knife in hand. I looked at her skeptically. "Well… at least that's better than nothing!" I exclaimed nervously, and, with one last kick on the other end of the door, the barrier between us and the pirates came crashing down.

Lana let out an unearthly scream, and I soon joined her. Before us stood to pirates: one short and stout one, the other, tall and skinny. Neither one of them looked all that terrifying, but, nonetheless, Lana bared herself.

"RUN! Ariana, RUN! Get help!"

I panted desperately as the pirates lunged for her, and when the thin one moved for me, I dropped to the floor and rolled, which granted me an opportunity to rip the dagger off of the hilt at the pirate's boot.

"No, no! Put me down!" Lana shrieked as the short pirate—one going by the name of Pintel—lifted her over his shoulders and carried her out the door, and up the stairs to the deck.

When I made to chase after them, the taller pirate—who I later learned to be named Ragetti—blocked my path, and chuckled almost childishly. "Where d'ya think you're goin', poppet?" he taunted, grinning so much as a reply, I let out a cry as I lunged forward with the knife, to which he parried with his quickly drawn, rusty, curved saber. I gasped, beads of sweat trickling down my bleeding forehead as I successfully blocked each attack from the suntanned pirate. I even managed to push him aside long enough to storm to the deck."Ach! Me eye!" he exclaimed, feeling the side of his head as his wooden eye fell out onto the floor of Lana and my cabin, rolling under my cot and temporarily… out of sight?

Ah, well, it didn't matter to me—it afforded me a chance to escape. Panting, I hiked up my skirts past my ankles, and rushed up the rickety stairs only just to see Lana's head of copper-red hair flash out of sight. I groaned inwardly.

I had to pay very special attention to all those around me. The deck was stained crimson with blood. But, strangely, it seemed, that all the bodies that lay strewn across the deck were those of the Royal Navy and British Marines. Why is that? I wondered, but not before I realized that I was face to face with someone I instantly knew would be trouble.

Tall and dark, he stood, arms crossed, looking down at me with almost glimmering, yellowed-blue eyes as his ginger beard moved slightly in the wind. A white-headed capuchin monkey quickly scrambled up his shoulders, screeching excitedly.

Gaze fixed intently, the staunch figure stepped forward suspensefully: his elegant but worn black boots thudding rhythmically against the staircase. The entire battle froze, and many familiar faces were scattered throughout the crowd: each notable person being held back by at least two pirates.

Black sails billowed in the breeze eerily, and I shivered slightly. The formidable figure before me smirked, then barked: "Masters Pintel and Ragetti! The prisoner, if ye would."

Upon those words, Ragetti instantly burst up from my cabin, and joined Pintel: dragging Lana up the steps to what I supposed to be their 'captain'.

"Right, here she is, Captain Barbossa," Pintel murmured under his breath.

"Why, you miserable little snake!" Lana writhed: her magenta-purple dress clinging tightly to her porcelain skin.

My brows furrowed in confusion—Lana?(!) Was she really the person these wretched pirates were looking for?(!) She did not strike me as the type to associate with pirates at all. Captain Barbossa's long, rough black fingernails against Lana's pasty-white skin: forcing her to meet his fiery gaze.

"Nay! It is not her. Ye have brought me the wrong girl!"

"How can ye be so sure?" Ragetti asked. "She is the proper age!"

"The proper age for what?" I asked defiantly: placing my hands on my hips.

Almost instantly, Barbossa's gaze shot towards me, and I found myself stepping back at his close proximity. Lana's gaze followed him, and she looked at me in equal surprise as I had at her only moments before. I stood, undaunted, but my heart pounded agitatedly in my chest. At the corner of my eye, I saw Father, fear washing over his face as the pirate captain advanced towards me, extending a hand for my face. He seemed to take a very deep interest in my newly-acquired scar, and smirked satisfactorily at himself. But, rather than uttering word, he ran his calloused hand over my jaw line, causing my Father to shake, and break down into a pleading sob. "Please, no! She is my… my precious daughter…!"

"Is it her?" Pintel asked with interest.

"Ahhh… those eyes… I don't… know…."

"If she was the one, she would prove it to us," Ragetti said in a mumble: his one eye focused straight on me as he popped his wooden eye back into his socket. I flinched a little at the disgusting sight.

"Well, when ye put it that way, I suppose there only be one way to find out, right, lads?" Barbossa chuckled, and I forced a laugh just to break the tenseness I felt in the air. Father swallowed a lump in his throat. What was he going to do with me?

"I have no idea what you are all on about, but I can assure you, if I had the answer to what you are searching for, I would most readily share it!"

Barbossa chuckled, and the rest of the pirates—all eyes on me—laughed heartily. I swallowed the large lump in my throat.

"To be sure, ye would, Missy, had ye any sense about ye," Barbossa returned with a weak, but clever smile.

My muscles relaxed a bit when he started to turn away, but, within moments, I realized just how big a mistake I had made.

In one fluid movement, Captain Barbossa had withdrawn his flintlock pistol, and prepared to fire. "Prove it to us, or the man dies!" I watched, horrified, as the pirate aimed the gun straight at my father's face, and slowly drew back the golden trigger.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" I screamed, instinctively leaping in front of the man who had raised me.

"Ariana! Don't!" Jenna shrieked, gripping onto Steph tightly.

I felt an unnatural, rapid surge of adrenaline pulsing through my veins as I watched the bullet soar through the air in slow-motion. My scar, in particular, seemed to pound out of proportion: I thought that my head was going to explode. But that did not stop me, in my resolve to protect my father, and I remained focused.

Then, all of a sudden, I felt a strange jolt of energy mixed with pain—and a blinding white light flashed from my lightning-shaped scar, making the pirates fall back and shriek in pain. Jutting my hands forward, I felt a wall of firm air emit from my hands, stilling the bullet before ricocheting it back towards the pirate captain, and he ducked to avoid getting flashed crazily all around the ship, and thunder boomed, as though the gods above were enraged.

"You will not harm my family!" I screamed: and, even through the light, my gaze met fiercely with Barbossa's.

Lana's blue eyes bulged in amazement, and she panted from the shock of all that was occurring.

Then, I felt all my strength being drained from me, and I collapsed to the floor, blacking out in a dead faint.

"Aye… we found her, all right," Barbossa replied with a sly smirk as he blew the smoke from the muzzle of his pistol and stared down at my limp form. "Gents, take her aboard the Pearl!"

Father stood, wide-eyed, as I was dragged away by pirates Pintel and Ragetti, but he said nothing. There was only one thought running through his mind. What had just happened?


Ha-ha! Got you again! Another cliffie! And this time, it is with PIRATES!

So, do you want to find out what all that commotion with Ariana was about? Stay tuned for chapter 13! (The next chapter is about Norrington). Read more to find out!

Please R&R! I am very anxious to know what you all thought!