Elizabeth Swann looked over the edge of the ship's railing, her mousy brown eyes staring out into the nothing. Her blonde curls had been pulled back neatly, and the pretty blue-gray dress she'd chosen today seemed to reflect on the all around atmosphere of the world.
The Caribbean sky was dark and gloomy, the thick fog surrounding them doing nothing to relieve the tension on the ship. But Elizabeth, despite the warnings from her father to not wander far on the ship, had always been a curious and imaginative child, and paid no heed to her father's and some of the ship member's warnings.
She did not care for the tales of superstitious sailors, though the fantastical stories they spun of pirates certainly did nothing to put out her day dreaming of epic battles and lost treasures. Of freedom on the high seas with no laws to be bound by.
"Yo, ho, yo, ho, a pirate's life for me
Yo, ho, yo, ho, it's a pirate's life
For me..."
Elizabeth swayed in time with the ship as she softly sang, staring out in the abyss, her mind worlds away.
"...Drink up me hearties, yo, ho..."
Suddenly, she felt a hand grip her shoulder, causing her to jump and whirl around to see the old worn face of one Joshamee Gibbs.
"Quiet, missy! Cursed pirates sail these waters. You want to call 'em down on us?" He warned, and Elizabeth stared at him wide-eyed.
"Mr. Gibbs." They looked to the source of the voice. Approaching them with a stern expression on his face is Captain James Norrington, a handsome young man with brown curled hair. Beside him, the newly appointed Governor of Port Royal, Weatherby Swann, young Elizabeth's father.
"That will do." Captain Norrington chastised, and Gibbs frowned.
"She was singing about pirates. Bad luck to sing about pirates, with us mired in this unnatural fog, mark my words." He warned, and Captain Norrington gave him a dismissive smile.
"Consider them marked. On your way."
"'Aye, sir." Gibbs grumbled, skulking off. "Bad luck to have a woman on board, too. Even a mini'ture one." He continued under his breath, and returned to his deck-swabbing duties, but not before taking a surreptitiously quick swig from flask.
"I think it would be rather exciting to meet a pirate." Elizabeth mused thoughtfully, not seeming to notice the weary look on her father's face.
"Think again, Miss Swan Vile and dissolute creatures, the lot of them. I intend to see to it that any man who sails under a pirate flag, or wears a pirate's brand, gets what he deserves: a short drop and a sudden stop." Norrington growled, looking out into the fog. Elizabeth doesn't know what a 'short drop and a sudden stop' means, and as she glanced at Gibbs, he helpfully mimed out a man being hung, and she took a sharp intake of breath.
"Captain Norrington..." Her father interrupted. "I appreciate your fervor, but I am concerned about the effect this subject will have on my daughter."
"My apologies, Governor." Captain Norrington apologized hurriedly, and walked off to do other Captain things… Elizabeth looked up to her father, frowning
"Actually, I find it all quite fascinating." She said, and he sighed deeply.
"And that's what concerns me. Elizabeth dear, we will be landing in Port Royal very soon, and beginning our new lives. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we comport ourselves as befits our class and station?" Her father said in a familiar chastising tone, and she pouted.
"Yes, father." Elizabeth turned to look back out to sea, enjoying her own thoughts silently while her father went back to his office, no doubt going to do more boring work. If she tried talking to anyone else about them, she would get nothing but a negative effect from them, much to her chagrin.
"I still think it would be exciting to meet a pirate..." She mumbled to herself as the fog still hemmed in the ship; allowing very little of the sea to be visible. But then, something catches her eye from out of the gloom. She leaned closer, watching as a parasol floated out from the fog. Surprised, and delighted at this oddity, Elizabeth watched in amusement as it bounced off the hull.
Her delight quickly turned to confusion when she spotted two people floating in the water, clinging to a large piece of wood. Upon closer inspection, it's the bodies of two young girls, one wearing a simple white dress, and the other a blue one.
"Look!" Elizabeth called out, drawing attention to her. "There's people in the water!" People rushed over, and hurry into action.
"Persons overboard! Man the ropes! Fetch a hook! Haul them aboard!" Sailors scrambled to haul them aboard, and Elizabeth is almost positive the girl in the white dress had a tail, but it must've been a trick of her mind, because as they lay them both on the deck, she realizes the girl has two legs. Elizabeth sidled in for a closer look, curious about the two floating girls.
"They're still breathing." Captain Norrington sighed with relief.
"Where did they come from?" Her father frowned, asking the question on everyone's mind.
"Mary mother of God..." All attention was turned to Gibbs, who was still looking out into the fog. The sea was no longer empty, and to Elizabeth's horror and morbid fascination, a wreckage from a ship littered the water... Along with the bodies of its crew. What was left of the ship's hull burns above the water, a ragged British flag hanging limply from the stern as the H.M.S. Dauntless slips silently through it all.
"What happened here?" Her father muttered under his breath, pulling Elizabeth closer while clutching her shoulder tightly.
"An explosion in the powder magazine perhaps? Merchant vessels run heavily armed." Gillette tried to reason, but Gibbs frowned in annoyance.
"Lot of good it did them..." He growled. "Everyone's thinkin' it! I'm just saying it! Pirates!" There were murmurs of agreement around the crew.
"There is no proof of that." Her father's panicked tone betrayed his attempt at a calm expression. "It could have been an accident! Captain, these men were under the crown's protection. If there is even the slightest chance one of those poor devils is still alive, we cannot abandon them!" Captain Norrington looked at him, almost insulted.
"Of course not, Governor." He turned to the crew and started to bark out orders. "Come about and strike the sails! Unleash the boats! Gunnery crew... jackets off the cannons!" He glanced at Swann and smiled nervously. "Hope for the best...prepare for the worst. Move the girls aft. We'll need the deck clear." He barked at some of the sailors, who gently moved them aside and onto a space behind the wheel as carefully as possible. Her father pulled Elizabeth from the rail, and the gruesome scene in the water, much to her curiosity's displeasure...
"Elizabeth, I want you to accompany them." He said, looking very serious now. "They're in your charge now. You'll watch over them?" Elizabeth nodded gravely, and watched as her father hurried away to help unstow the longboat. Elizabeth wandered over to them curiously, studying them carefully.
The girl in the white dress was older than the one in blue, seemingly in her teens. They looked somewhat similar, but the white dress girl was paler, and had long dark brown hair, longer than any Elizabeth had ever seen. Her face was more angled, and even looking like a drowned rat, she was beautiful.
The blue dress girl looked to be younger than Elizabeth herself. Her hair clung to her tanned face, a black ribbed hanging precariously on a few threads. Elizabeth reached out, gently brushing the soft, wet, red hair from the girl's face, when she gasped awake, and grabbed her wrist. Elizabeth squeaked in surprise, and looked down at the girls hazel eyes, which were full of panic and confusion. She took a shaking breath, and gently took her hand in her own.
"My name is Elizabeth Swann." She said, finally gathering up the nerve, and the girl smiled tiredly.
"Victoria Turner."
"I'm watching over you, Victoria." Elizabeth smiled back, and in the moments before Victoria lost consciousness again, she would've sworn up and down that the pretty, if a bit blurry, blonde girl, Elizabeth she called herself, was a guardian angel sent from God himself.
Elizabeth gently put her hand back down, and continued to look her over, and spotted something shining on her chest, and against her better morals, she pulled out the chain to see what it was attached. To her shock, it revealed a shimmering gold medallion. The side she looked at was black, and when she turned it over, an Aztec skull grinned up at her, gazing into the depths of her soul. Elizabeth sucked in a sharp breath; this could only mean one thing, one semi-terrifying truth.
"You're a pirate." She said softly, but Victoria didn't say anything in response. Elizabeth gave a quick glance back at the crew, watching as Norrington barked out orders, and started moving towards her. She looks back at Victoria, and came to a quick decision. Elizabeth took the medallion from around her neck, and hid it behind her as Norrington called her into attention.
"Did they speak?" He frowned, and she nodded.
"The pretty red head said her name was Victoria Turner, that's all I found out..."
"Very good." He said, before he hurried off to bark more orders at people.
Elizabeth moved to the stern of the ship to examine her prize, the gold medallion. A wisp of wind buffeted her face, and she looked up, and out over the sea. Moving through the fog, silent as a ghost, is a large sailing ship, a schooner with menacing black sails. Elizabeth stared, too frightened to move, or cry out.
The ship is shortly obscured by the fog it as it passed, but not the mizzen-top... There hangs the frightening skull and crossbones of the Jolly Roger. The fog surrounded and closed in on the ship, except for the black flag. As Elizabeth watched in some morbid curiosity, the skull appeared to turn and grin at her, and she shuts her eyes tightly.