Why won't you leave us alone?

Every time I looked over my shoulder I saw the annoyingly white sails of the Goon Vessel that had been creepily stalking us for a long time and doing its best to blow us to smithereens. It wasn't an ideal situation. It was a little bit inconvenient, truth be told, and I was getting a bit sick of it. It was a good job that the King's Navy weren't all that intelligent or we'd probably have been caught. I've never understood why the King thought it would be a good idea to put his stupidest subjects in charge of his ships. Perhaps it was because if they were on the sea they wouldn't be there to muck up his Kingdom

That's quite a good idea actually.

I eyed my crew, wondering if I should banish any of them to the Kingdom so that they wouldn't muck up the sea.

"Capt'n!" said Gibbs, "they're catching up." Even he sounded bored of saying it, which is saying something because if anyone loves a bit of melodrama over something we've all seen before, it's Gibbs. I looked up from the wheel.

"You know what to do," I told him. He sighed and turned to the crew.

"Right, lads!" he called. "Let's get some more wind in these sails!"

There was a sort of collectively tired grumble from everyone on deck. Little bit rude, but I'll let it pass. I looked up at the sails of my beloved beautiful ship. They were damaged from Barbossa's idiocy. If you're going to steal a ship from someone the least you can do is take care of it. My poor, bedraggled Pearl. He wanted you looking as scraggly as his beard. That was the reason that we couldn't outrun the Goons completely. Yes, the Pearl is the fastest ship in the Caribbean and she could still beat a Goon Vessel even with her sail damage, but she couldn't leave them out of sight. She needed repairing. Fast.

"Right, lads," I called to get them to look back at me. "Change of plan. We're going to do some sewing."

Don't look at me like that, it's rude.

Bugger. The needle stabbed through my thumb and I cursed it. Stupid thing.

Sewing is hard…

Gibbs grumbled to himself in the corner before throwing down what he was doing in frustration. "Capt'n… this is naught but woman's work."

This earned him a kick from Anna Maria. A kick which he should have seen coming. "Do your duties, Master Gibbs," I said calmly.

"But… Capt'n…" he continued. I sighed.

Why must you always be so whiny?

"Get it done. We need to fix the Pearl if she's to be of any use," I said. Gibbs picked up what he had been doing and reluctantly began fashioning a black patch to mend the sails with. I finished the one I was on. It was, of course, brilliant. The best patch out of the lot. Obviously. The rest of my crew were like monkeys. It's difficult to work with such imbeciles sometimes, there's a lot of responsibility that comes with being the only clever one on a chip. Tis just one of the many reasons that I am Captain. I handed it to Ragetti so that he could attach it to the sail and stood up. Everyone looked miserable. I smiled at them to lift their spirits. "I'll leave you gents to it."

Before anyone could do any more whining or complaining I walked away from them and took to the wheel. I felt much more comfortable there than I did sewing. At least the wheel did not puncture my thumb until it had more holes in it than there were grains of sand on a beach. Needles were fickle fellows. I did not see us getting along in the foreseeable future.

I was allowed a few moments of peace at the wheel. It was a very lovely day. There is nothing better than being at sea on a lovely day. It had been so long since I had been able to be at sea at the helm of my own ship. I relaxed and smiled at the horizon in front of me, which was completely clear. Not one tiny bit of land in sight.

Just how I like it.

There wasn't a single bit of land I wanted to see. Well… I might want to see Tortuga sometime soon, but not just yet.

… and perhaps it wouldn't be completely awful to pay a quick visit to-

No! Stop thinking about Port Royal.

"Capt'n!" Gibbs's frightful face gave me a fright. My God man! Will you never leave me alone?

"Yes, Master Gibbs?" I sighed.

"We were just wonderin'," he began. I raised an eyebrow at him. "I mean, me an' the lads… we just wanted to know if… if ye have a heading in mind?"

Why is everyone so obsessed with that issue? "Yes," I lied. My hand automatically closed over my Compass, so that it couldn't tell on me. I noticed Gibbs noticing it, but we both pretended neither of us had done any noticing of anything at all. I saw that Gibbs was about to question me again. "How many times to I have to ask you if you trust my judgement in being Captain of this ship?"

"Well…" he stuttered. Choose your next words carefully, mate. "I suppose you have been a Captain for almost thirteen years, even if it hasn't strictly been on the Pearl."

Yes. Exactly.

Wait… WHAT?

"What!" My voice was much louder than I thought it would be and a little bit higher. I hoped that I didn't sound silly. "What did you say?"

Gibbs look alarmed and shrank away from me a little. "I… um… even if it hasn't strictly-"

"No!" I snapped. "Not that you idiot, the bit before."

"…You've been a Captain for almost thirteen years…" he looked tense.

Bugger. This changes everything.

I felt a bit sick. "God, you're right… so I have." I shut the door in his face. It was now absolutely vital that my Compass learnt to not piss me off. This little reminder from Gibbs was certain to kick it in to action. Now that my priorities were in order it would surely point to what I wanted.

I want to live.

I felt peculiar. Hot and cold all at the same time. And a little bit shaky. Maybe I was ill.

Or scared.

No, don't be silly. It'll be fine.

I opened my Compass, sure that this time it would show me what I needed. It spun more than three times this time and refused to come to any kind of definite conclusion. Well… this is even less helpful than before. Stupid indecisive thing.

I need a plan.

I stared at the compass for a few seconds, but the incessant spinning made me angry. Not for the first time I slammed the lid shut. I put my head in my hands and closed my eyes to have a think. This was going to be difficult.

Come on Jacky, how you going to beat the Devil?

Can't be that hard… can it?

Just know your enemy. Jones. Davy Jones. What do we know about him?

I realised with a sinking feeling that I was going to have to pay a visit to another jail cell. And this time it wouldn't be breaking out of it that I was going to have a problem with.

It would be breaking in.

Well… bugger me.

I sat back, allowing myself a moment to sort my thoughts out. They have a dreadful habit of disarranging themselves in to the most unhelpful order that they can. It's all a bit rude of them really.

"Capt'n!"

If I bloody hear that one more bloody time today I'm bloody banishing you all to a faraway place with no rum.

"What is it, man?" I snapped. Gibbs looked too frightened to be offended by my tone.

"Storm on the horizon… looks pretty bad. It could be a hurricane, sir." No wonder he was shaken. I jumped up immediately, grabbing a map. This was serious.

"Land," I said, brushing past him on the way out of the door and calling to the rest of my restless crew. "Let's get the Pearl to land as quickly as possible."

"Which direction, Capt'n?" Marty asked.

I looked down at the map in my hands. "I believe our nearest Port is Tortuga," I announced, which lifted everyone's spirits dramatically.

At least one thing has gone right today.

As long as we don't die on the way there of course.

Please leave a review, hoped you liked it :)

Also, if you're a fan of Sweeny Todd then check out PirateNinjaCJS's Fanfic "Never Would Have Lied". You will not regret it, I promise.

Love you all,

L.V xx