Chapter Thirteen: Daft

Lottie watched as Will paced their cell in the brig, from one side to the next. She gritted her teeth and leaned her head back before moving the brim of her hat down. "Can you stop and sit down?" She inquired to him.

Will paused where he was, his jaw clenched before he turned his head slowly to face her. Charlotte had her leg extended out and looked so damn calm when she was to be placed in the same fate as he! How could one be so calm? Will was desperately searching away out of this awful cell and yet she was sitting in water, having her breeches soaked at the bottom. He did not understand how one could easily resign themselves to a fate like hers? "I am not prepared to just sit here while Elizabeth is in danger!"

Lottie shook her head at him, partly amused and a little annoyed. This girl was nothing special—she wouldn't die for her. It was flattering that he would, she wished someone would put their head down just for her. But… she didn't have any one to sacrifice for her life—her fate was worse than death. "Your neck's going to be slit soon, boy. Your Elizabeth, if she was here, would be in greater danger, at least the island she's on has somewhat of a way out."

"And what is that? Sea turtles?" Will asked her angrily. Lottie tried not to grimace when she felt his spit come onto her face. Was that really necessary? Could he not control his spit? Charlotte felt her jaw clench and hesitated to wipe it off before actually doing so.

"Well, Jack does have a lot of back hair so they could rope a raft that would hold the two of them." Lottie managed to drawl out before looking away from Will.

"This is no joking matter, Hooke!"

"Oh, I'm not joking, actually quite serious, William!"

"Will you two stow it?" Anamaria scowled from the cell across from them. Will tossed a glare to her crowded cell before walking to where the cell door was. He leaned against it with his arms crossed and his brow pulled together as if he was thinking. Yeah, thinking. Lottie scoffed in her head… he hadn't used his brain to think before. But at the sound of Anamaria's voice, Lottie couldn't help but grit her teeth. "The last thing we need is to hear your jabbering."

Charlotte chuckled at her softly, shaking her head. "Let Turner get his anger out on me and my jests. He is about to die and all."

"Then let us all get our anger out on you because it is yer fault that we're here!" Anamaria shouted at her. Joseph looked over at her with narrowed eyes, but did not say anything. His brow was knitted together in thought as he looked between Charlotte and Anamaria. Charlotte's eyebrows perked up at her in mock surprise before she scoffed.

"Aye?" Charlotte said, unsure. She was unsure of what landed them all here but she didn't think it was due to her. "I've done nothing."

"You helped Barbossa."

"I'm sorry that really didn't land you in the brig with me." Charlotte reasoned with her before swallowing. "I've done that to help Jack get the Pearl without really thinking about it. Honestly, it really was supposed to be Will with me in here, you guys weren't a part of my bargain."

"So… we were at your disposal?" Anamaria asked her, sounding angry. Charlotte could see why Jack didn't want to see her before, she was quite terrifying angry. She did not think about the crew making her deal, but to say that they were all a casualty wasn't true.

"There's no use in fightin'." Gibbs told her, putting a hand on Anamaria's shoulder as if to calm her down. He sent a glare over to her and Charlotte could feel the concern in his eyes. Gibbs understood more than the rest of the lot in his cage. "What's done 's done. Nothing we can change 'bout it."

"Nothing," Charlotte repeated to herself, feeling herself grit her teeth at the thought that there was absolutely nothing they could do about it. She closed her eyes. She resigned herself to a fate far worse than death—all because of him. Did she really think it needed to go that far? Did it have to go this far? She didn't think she deserved this sort of punishment. When she made the deal, she was going to back out of it in time so she wouldn't have to be cursed. But now… Charlotte was going to get what she managed to escape years ago.

Maybe she deserved it. Maybe she didn't. She wondered what would become of her now though—destined to sail the seas for all eternity, not feeling anything, being… a skeleton when the moon would loom over her. Would it be a good look on her? It might not be that bad. But who knows what Barbossa had planned for her—he was sure to not let her out of his sights. A moment later, with her eyes closed, she didn't realize what she had done or the inhuman sounds that came from her mouth—they were muffled sounds, but they were strangled sounds that she didn't want anyone to hear.

Her fist had balled and been brought to her mouth. She pressed her fist against her lips as if to help her lips to stop trembling. She was stupid for what she had done, she was selfish for what she had done, and above all she was just so naïve. She thought she lost her naïveté so long ago, but no, it was there now.

She soon felt a hand on her shoulder and heard someone crouch down next to her. There was only one person in this cell with her. She dared herself to look over at a Will Turner, who actually seemed concerned for her. "I understand what you have done." He told her carefully with a small, sad smile. Charlotte swallowed rather thickly, "You are putting your life on the line for the one you love."

"I don't love him," Lottie replied quickly. "And unlike you, my life isn't just on the line." Will stared at her for a moment before just sighing. He stood straight up and went to lean against the wall—it was obvious that he was tired pacing. Charlotte's eyes watched him for a moment before a silence went over them all; no one had anything to say. She did not know what was going through their heads, but she knew that none of them are like hers. Hers was screaming at her, and the silence was nearly deafening.

Soon she heard footsteps coming down the steps of the brig. She looked over, not bothering getting up because she knew that they weren't there yet. She saw Pintel and Ragetti slugging down a bucket of resin and a mop. "About bloody time," she taunted to them with a smirk on her face. Pintel dropped the bucket on the floor and Ragetti came to his side. "I was beginning to wonder if anyone was going to fix this leak."

"Not a word from ya, poppet!" Pintel snapped at her.

"Not a word from ya." Ragetti repeated after him, taking his mop and dipping it in the water. Charlotte looked down at herself to see that the water was seeping into her breeches. They did not need to clean it; they needed to dry it up. But, she listened to them, standing up with much difficulty. Not a word from her was going to be said. Will glanced over at Lottie as her boots trudged through the water and leaned into the bars. She crossed her arms over her chest.

Well… maybe she would only listen to them for about five seconds. "Who's the better first mate? Me or Bo'sun?"

"I thoughts we told ye—."

"I mean, I know I was only Hector's first mate for a few days, but I thought I was good at my job. Is that why you hate me so much? Because I left you with some… rotten git? I mean… he is scary-looking."

Pintel's swabbing progressively got aggressive. She raised her brow at him confused and worried, did she say something that was out of line? Because she thought that Bo'sun was a git and that everyone agreed with her. He pointed at her. "Quiet, Charlie."

"Yah, yah, quiet, Charlie." Ragetti grinned after Pintel. Charlotte only twitched at what her father actually called her. She turned her back on them to see Will looking at her curiously. It was just them both in this awful cage—they felt that they had to separate their prisoners from their captives. Her and Will, basically, were in the same boat. She had cast her eyes down at the wood before taking off her hat, flipping it in her hands.

She had a special attachment with her hat; it had unfortunately seen a lot more than storms. She walked over to Will's side, carefully walking through the water before leaning her back up against it. "Are you alright?" She asked him genuinely. Though he annoyed her, he was going to die soon… he might not be so final about it like she was. Will shifted his jaw and looked forward at the belligerent pirates swabbing the excess water up from the wood. Charlotte took a slow breath before she said to him, "She'll be fine and I'm sure she's drivin' Jack crazy about getting to you... somehow."

"Is there a way off the island?" Will inquired to her. "You've been on it, so you must know."

"I got off by seagulls to fly to Tortuga," Charlotte said with a slight smirk and she closed her eyes, turning her head away from Will. Her chest tightened somewhat, thinking back to her and Jack's short period of sharing a cell together. She put her hat back down and gritted her teeth as she suddenly steeled herself. What was she doing? Why was she thinking back to her and Jack in Port Royal and getting upset over it? There was no need to. Only… like Elizabeth, he might be dead. Only that island wasn't deserted and there were rumrunners, but she doubted it. The bloody Navy ruined a lot of those islands.

Will did not seem amused by her. She looked back at him with the same smirk before adding to him in a low voice. "There is a way, but I don't want to say because it may not be there still and they," she nodded to the people in the cell across from her, "know something different and aren't as clever as you are to see through Jack's little story. And… and if your bonny lass was here she would either be dead or worse for trying to protect you before… so it's better that she's with Jack and not here."

"He's a pirate just like the rest of them. It's not any more better."

"He may be a pirate, but he has an awful honorable bone in his body. He's a good man, like other pirates I know."

"He was going to use me."

Charlotte tried not to smack this kid. Did he really not see Jack's plan? She knew it from the beginning. "Boy, you were a bargaining chip—our leverage. He was never going to give the name to Barbossa and we were going to take the Pearl and Elizabeth back."

Will stared at her for a moment, letting that slowly sink in. His mouth parted before he asked, "Why didn't he tell me that then?"

"Jack Sparrow is bloody brilliant, but also daft. I told him from the beginning that we should tell you everything, but he didn't listen to me, so I followed his lead… but for me, things changed at the end… and maybe, I should've thought about you before I made that deal with Barbossa… and I apologize for it."

"You don't need to apologize to me, Lottie." Will told her gently. Charlotte patted him on the shoulder gratefully before looking back at Pintel and Ragetti who effectively ignored their small talk as they swabbed the deck. Gibbs was watching over them to, an irritated expression passed on his face and he walked up to the bars of his cell, his hands curling around them.

He watched them for a couple of moments before Cotton's parrot squawked, "Shiver me timbers!"

Gibbs smirked over to the parrot before nudging Cotton, "Cotton, 'ere, says you missed a bit." Pintel's jaw clenched immediately after annoyed and just as quickly as Gibbs commented to them, he brought up the head of the mop to hit the bars of the cell.

Will glanced over at Charlotte before looking to both Pintel and Ragetti. He might soon regret asking them this, but he had to know. He walked forward before asking, "You knew William Turner?"

Charlotte took a deep breath at the name and looked to Pintel who had somewhat of a smirk on his face, mixed with a scowl. Even if that was not possible, his face certainly did the trick. "Ol' Bootstrap Bill? We knew 'im. Never sat well with Bootstrap what we did to Jack Sparrow—."

"Captain Jack Sparrow." Charlotte snapped at him, clenching her jaw. Pintel's head snapped over to her and she flashed him a fake grin with a shrug of her shoulders. She gestured over to him, "Continue on."

Pintel's eyes were on Charlotte as he went on, "The mutiny and all. He said it wasn't right with the code. That's why he sent off a piece of the treasure to you as it were. He said we deserved to be cursed… and remain cursed." Lottie tried hard to not comment that she agreed with him. But how Pintel's eyes that were still on her told her that he wasn't as stupid as she thought him to be. He already knew.

"Stupid blighter." Ragetti added.

Gibbs corrected him, "Good man."

"The best kind of man." Charlotte added after Gibbs with a near scowl on her face toward Ragetti. Pintel glared at the both of them before turning back to Will, Charlotte refrained from doing anything that she would soon regret. She could glare at them back, but she wasn't going to. They had her beat. She was going to have maybe the same fate as Bootstrap. It wouldn't surprise her if Barbossa planned for her to be tied to a cannon and be dropped in the middle of the sea, rotting piece-by-piece, unable to die, have the eternal sense that she was dying and yet she couldn't.

Pintel went on to Will with a sinister smile on his face, "Well, as you can imagine, that didn't sit too well with the Captain."

"That didn't sit too well with the Captain at all," Ragetti added, echoing what Pintel said. Pintel gritted his teeth annoyed and turned to Ragetti. "Tell him what Barbossa did."

"I'm telling the story!" Pintel snapped at Ragetti loudly. Ragetti faltered back slightly, his smile dropping for a moment. "So… what the Captain did, he strapped a cannon to Bootstraps' bootstraps."

"Bootstraps' bootstraps." Ragetti echoed with his smile back on his face.

"And the last we saw of ol' Bill Turner, he was sinking to the crushing oblivion of Davy Jones' Locker." She didn't even know that Pintel knew what oblivion even meant. He then turned his head away from Will as Will moved his eyes down to the wood. Charlotte frowned to herself. "'Course it was only after that we learned we needed his blood to lift the curse."

"Now that's what you call ironic."

Charlotte chuckled, "So, so, so very tragic."

"We've told ya to be quiet!" Pintel snapped at her and Charlotte only shrugged her shoulders. Who were they to give her orders? She leaned her back against the wall and looked over to the stairs once she heard heavy boots on the stairs. She crossed her arms, watching Barbossa descend and his cold, blue eyes shifted from both her and Will. She picked up her chin and straightened herself, knowing that now was time. Barbossa stopped before the bottom of the steps and took a look at both Lottie and Will before looking over at Pintel and Ragetti.

"Bring 'im!" Barbossa ordered, throwing the keys over to Pintel and Ragetti. The pair looked at each other, exchanging knowing grins, as Pintel caught the keys. Charlotte looked over to the cell across from her as Pintel opened up their cell. Both Pintel and Ragetti grabbed Will out of the cell, leaving Charlotte by herself. She picked up her chin and looked directly at Barbossa before stepping forward but a grin, a disgusting contorting of his lips, stopped her and she furrowed her brow at him. "Ye think, lass, we are goin' bring you wit' him?" He shook his head at her, "Not a chance, Miss Hooke."

"And why not, Captain?" Charlotte asked him with her brow furrowed. If this was something of torture, to enjoy her last moments feeling her flesh and the blood running through her veins, then it was cruel. Making her wait… would be cruel.

"Why, we don't want you to be gettin' ideas, Charlotte." Barbossa told her. "But don' worry… we'll keep to our word."

Charlotte laughed humorlessly, "Trust me, mate, I have no doubts about that." She stepped back, glancing over to Will, who was looking behind his shoulder directly at her. She gave him a slight reassuring smile, saluting toward him. "God speed, William Turner."

"Don' worry, boy," Pintel said, pushing the lad forward, up the steps that led away from the brig. "You'll see her on the other side."

Ragetti sniggered next to him as they went past Barbossa. "No, you won't!" Pintel laughed loudly at his friend's comment as then went up. Charlotte looked straight at Barbossa, her eyes narrowing toward him. No more words were exchanged between the two of them, and soon, the pirate watched Barbossa turn on his heel to leave her there. Charlotte blinked several times, keeping her stance, before taking a slow, deep breath.

This was going to be her torture… waiting. She was spending her last moments alive in the cell of the Black Pearl's brig with people that more than likely hate her. With this thought, she glanced to the other side of the brig, pulling the brim of her hat over her green eyes, and resigned herself to sit down on top of the makeshift bench. Then she smirked to herself, lying down and having her hands go behind her head.

She sung to herself, "Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me. Da da da da da da," she went to her sash tied around her hip, taking out her small flask. She popped it open and brought it to her mouth. "Drink up me hearties, yo ho…" she muttered before dipping it back into her mouth, only to feel nothing hit her tongue… there was no burning sensation hitting her tongue at that very moment. Charlotte sat up, looking at the flask in disbelief before turning it over to see not even a drop drip out of it.

Her upper lip pulled up in a scowl. She looked up at a Gibbs, who had his hands around the bars. She asked him, "Why is my rum gone? I want rum." She thought she should at least have that in her cell if this was going to be her last moments of alive… she was never going to be satisfied again by the sour, and yet sweet tastes rum had to offer… how depressing was that?

Gibbs awarded her with a smirk as she let her flask fall. "Don't we all, lass." She jumped off the bench, crossing her arms over her chest before going to the front of the cell, watching the stairs. The ship was still moving under her feet. They weren't there; they probably wouldn't be there until nightfall. She didn't understand why they wanted Will now. And what would honestly be the difference if she were there with him? There wouldn't be any, would there? "Lottie, in all of these years, knowin' ye, this 's the first time I've seen ya give up."

She smirked over to Gibbs, her eyes flashing almost bitterly. "My fate's decided, Gibbs."

"Aye, like it was years ago," Gibbs told her. Charlotte licked her chapped lips, feeling her stomach grumble hungrily… were they also going to starve while she rotted… waiting for them? "Ye didn't let that stop ya."

She said to him slowly, her eyes going to the door to her cell, "I… I changed my fate… then." Charlotte picked up the brim of her hat, her eyes going to the hinges. "I don't know if I could change my fate now, to be honest." She stated, but she took a step closer, her hand reaching out to the hinges. She lightly touched one of them, tilting her head to study them. Gibbs stared at her with his eyebrow raised.

Charlotte swallowed thickly before looking over to the cell across from her. An idea came to her… a daft one, but an idea nonetheless. "I made a bargain, Gibbs," she said to him slowly. "And you know how well I keep to my bargains, especially with Barbossa. I mean, look how well the first one went! It went through so well! Everything went as planned!"

"Lottie… it didn—."

"No, it did though. I mean, Barbossa then made a mistake in striking a deal with me. He thinks we to be gentlemen, and follow through but this isn't some game of politics like he likes to think. I am not a matter of diplomacy… bloody hell, I don't even think I know what that word means!" She exclaimed happily, her eyes flickering to the hinges again.

Gibbs stared at her in disbelief as she allowed herself a smirk, "And I'm a pirate—I have absolutely no idea what he thinks us to be, but I know I'm not an officer who makes a deal and expect it to be final. All I know is," she tapped the hinge again, "I used to be the protégé of a man who made it his business to protect his hide in the face of danger, who disappeared in front of the very eyes of seven East India Trading Company officers, who sacked Nassau Port without firing a single shot, who escaped a deserted island tying a raft of sea turtles together, and whose made it his career in avoiding the likes of me for ten years.

"And as the protégé of that Captain she betrayed years back, who betrayed not one but two pirate lords, who escaped the very same island with seagulls at her side, who has pretended to be a man on every ship she used to find him, who got the unfortunate pleasure of crossing the EITC, who, for a short time, dueled other people for money in a tavern at Antigua—I earned a lot of doubloons, mind ya," she said to Gibbs, pointing at him. Gibbs tilted his head at her, unsure about where she was going with this, "I have obviously been underestimated… and not only did Barbossa made a mistake with me ten years ago… he made a mistake with me now…"

"I am Charlotte Hooke, daughter of John and Gertrude Hooke, and who was taken under Captain Jack Sparrow's wing twelve years ago to sail with him on the seven seas… and I have a promise to my Captain, that I don't intend on not keeping… and you never give me the opportunity to think all on me lonesome—because… frankly, I may just be extremely daft like Captain Jack Sparrow." She gave Gibbs an extremely meaningful look as she whisked her flask off of the ground.

Gibbs thought for a moment as Charlotte walked over to the hinges, examining them once more and then slowly a crooked grin began to show. "If me eyes speak the truth, I'd say you have a—."

"Aye, I've a plan." Charlotte said to him, her voice dropping to a whisper. She glanced up the stairs to see if anyone was listening to them, but she had noticed that the Black Pearl's speed had gone considerably. They weren't paying any attention. Another stupid move on Barbossa's part—but nevertheless she was thankful for it.

Joseph looked between Gibbs and Charlotte, his face twisting. "If you had a plan, then why didn't you just come and say it?"

"She's one for dramatics." Anamaria muttered.

Charlotte nodded her head at that, "That I am." She glanced back at them with a knowing smirk. "And as the first mate to Captain Jack Sparrow, unofficially of course, gentlemen… and lady," she nodded toward Anamaria, "death is not in our fortunes tonight, and a fate worse than death is definitely not in mine… we are going to take over this ship tonight."

She received some blank stares her way. Her smirk fell as she felt her lip twitch. She added, "Savvy?"

A/N: Okay, before I get into everything, I'm really, really, really sorry that I haven't updated this story in more than a year. I don't even know what to say, other than I'm sorry, since it's mostly because life has gotten in the way of things, and I really had to focus on that because I was going through the college process, and it just… yeah… but now this story really is back, and I hope you are back with it because it's close to ending! I finished this chapter today, and the next chapter also, and I am going to finish the next chapter which is 25% written. And then roughly, I think there's going to be 2 chapters after that left? And updates will not be a year in between. They will be every week :) And then I am going to plan DMC for Charlotte and Jack.

Anyway, if you came back to this story, thank you so much for reading! Really, every review I had received was amazing, and I love them, and I love you, and I love all of you who have favorited and followed it, and hope you continue to do so!

Thank you to the fifteen reviews I have received last chapter, that is really insane, and just… thank you! See you next update!