"Hmm." Talia was, for one reason or another, examining the map when Sarah awoke one morning. She was bent over it as if it were some kind of ancient code that she was attempting to decipher with the utmost determination. She brushed a few strands of hair out of her face and muttered something. Deciding it was best not to disturb her, Sarah headed up on deck, where Asher was currently in command at the helm. He gave her a small nod as she emerged. She spotted an open spot on the edge rail and went to lean on it, as customary.
She was soon joined by Adrian, also--pretty much--as customary. Well, if Talia wasn't with him, at least. There was nothing to talk about, and so they stood there in silence. It was a slow morning.
The sky was a cheery, overly vibrant blue, completely absent of could, and the sun was glaring down on to the faces of the crew. The sea splashed just below Sarah's line of vision, making crystal flourishes that flashed sunlight like a strobe. There were no islands in sight, and no ships, aside from the Black Pearl, following nearby. She sighed, breaking the silence.
"Kind of boring, eh?" Adrian said, attempting to make conversation. It was better than nothing, and Sarah agreed.
"G'morning." A voice said from behind them. They turned to see Jack standing there, smiling. His moustache had grown back by now (they had been at sea for quite a long time by now) and he was rocking lightly on his heels. "Where's Talia?" He asked.
"…Um, reading the map. Down below," Adrian replied, motioning to the stairs. "Why?"
"Oh, just asking." He said, stepping to the other side of Sarah and leaning on the edge. Sarah stepped away from the rail and stood independently, a little tired of leaning. Just as she did this, Talia emerged from below deck and looked around. After stopping the group standing by the edge, she approached them.
"Aye. We're close to Port Royal, that's about it," She stated coldly. She paused for a moment, then added, "I think." Jack clapped.
"Oh!" He grinned. "We should go! We could visit Mr. Turner and his lovely bride!"
"Who?"
"Ah. Right. My friends, William Turner and Elizabeth…eh…Swann? Or is it Turner now…" He explained, gesturing randomly. He looked toward the sky thoughtfully. "I haven't seen them in the longest time."
Talia, too, looked thoughtful, then she exclaimed, "Oh, Bootstrap Bill's kid!" Jack turned to face very quickly.
"What?"
"Bootstrap Bill."
"How do you know who that is?"
"Me uncle told me. Told me all sorts of stories." She nodded, seeming distracted. Sarah and Adrian were having an amusing time watching Jack's face, which had the strangest expression on it. He was sort of rigid at the moment.
"…Uncle? Wh-what was your uncle's name?"
"Hector Barbossa," She replied, crossing her arms. "Why?" Jack's eyes widened and his left one began to twitch. He laughed a little insanely. To be quite honest, Sarah's eyes grew larger as well.
"Oh look. Wow, Jack finally snapped," Adrian commented offhandedly. Talia frowned, confused.
"Jack? What?" She sounded very bewildered and quite annoyed. By now, she was a bit suspicious of Jack's behavior. Jack fell over backwards and everyone just sort of started at him. After a mew minutes, he sat up again.
"I'm okay," He said, as if someone had asked him. "Let's go to Port Royal, shall we?" Standing up, he began to walk away, but Talia seized him by the collar.
"Jack, did you know me uncle?"
"…Uhh…" She gave him a sharp jerk. "Yes. Yes I did. We were, uh, friends, but then one day we went our separate ways…and…er, he, uh…I never saw him. Again." He shied away from her currently lethal glare, hoping that she would soon let go, then she released him and walked toward Sarah.
"Sarah, did you know me uncle?" Talia asked her. She looked up from her gaze at the floor and thought for a moment. Once again, she was sorely tempted to expose Jack for working with Barbossa and later killing him, but instead, she lied as well. "Oh. I met him once." Talia seemed to believe her easier than Jack, and so she nodded and headed back to where Asher was standing, observing quietly.
"Alright, to Port Royal then!" She announced.
- - - - -
From hearing so much about Port Royal on the way there, Sarah expected something a bit more…fantastic, perhaps, but instead, it was almost the same as any other Caribbean port town.
"So explain to me something Jack."
"Aye?"
"How exactly are we, pirates, going to get the attention of a governor's daughter and a blacksmith? …A blacksmith married to said governor's daughter?"
"Well," Jack glanced at Sarah, then at Talia, who was standing nearby. "…That's where you two come in. You would, uh, go get them…dressed as peasant women."
Both of them advanced on Jack after realizing that they would have to wear dresses. Again.
"Oh no, not on your life!" Talia jabbed at his face with her index finger.
"You wear the dress!" Sarah exclaimed. Jack stood between them, laughing nervously; he had known they would react this way. He wasn't even sure why he had suggested it.
"This is the last time, I promise!" He answered, attempting to keep them both in his sights--well, mainly Talia. He could pretty much handle whatever Sarah could deal out, but Talia getting violent would almost certainly mean death. He made a small mental note to choose his words and plans more carefully when around Miss TNT.
"Oh! A promise!" Talia began, eyes beginning to smolder. Oh, I'm such an ignoramus… Jack shuddered. I should have said, "We go in fighting, me hearties!" At least that would have made her happy. Augh… "And who in their right mind would believe your promises?"
"Well, who do you think I'm talking to? Neither of you are mentally stable." He replied--and just milliseconds after he said this, he knew he had make a mistake in doing so. Talia whipped out several knives and held them high above her head. Sarah, meanwhile, was accounting her current bad mood to Jack's suggestion, Jack's recent reply, and waking up on the wrong side of the womb at square one. Shaking off her guilty desire to see Jack as a shish kabob…again…she seized the captain's arm and reasoned with her.
"T-Talia, just drop it. Next time he does this, I'll help you with gutting him, but just…hold off this time, alright?"
After a long pause from Talia's end, it looked as if she wasn't going to listen, then she slowly lowered her hand, still glaring at Jack, who looked relieved. Tediously, she replaced all of the knives back in their sheathes and crossed her arms.
"You win. For now." She sighed.
"Wait--why can't you go, Jack?" Sarah asked. He turned his head to look at her, a bit startled. "You're just as capable as either of us and, most likely, much more entertaining in a dress." Talia snorted.
"...Ehh...heh heh, I'm a bit well-known here and, technically, so is my ship, now that I think about it. Anyway, if I were to so much as step foot in Port Royal, I've no doubt Norrington would on the spot," He replied. After a few more moments of silence, he added, "And besides--you'd never get me in a dress."
Sarah and Talia exchanged superior glances, then Talia spoke. "Alright, let's get this over with, so we can change and make you wear the dress."
- - - - -
Around an hour later, the two women were on there way to governor's manor, dresses and all. Jack had already explained how they were going to get in--the happy couple was hiring new maids and Miss Warren and Miss Frost were scheduled to apply for the job. That would get them inside, then the rest was up to them. That, as Talia so eloquently put it, probably wasn't the best idea. Sarah just laughed.
There was a strangely small crowd of women near the mansion, no doubt also there for the job application. They were gossiping happily and waiting to be called inside. Standing near the back, Talia had murmured to Sarah that being last would be less conspicuous in the notifying process. "You don't just tell someone to come with you while they're in the middle of something, eh?" She had said.
Sarah craned her neck to see above the crowd and in to the open doors where a woman in an elegant dress--no doubt Elizabeth--was calling another woman inside. The woman waved to her friends and parted with them. Immediately after her departure, the women began savagely spreading poisonous rumors about their friend. What wonderfully kind and trustworthy friends.
"The good news is she's in there," She said to Talia, who just shook her head and chuckled. With nothing to talk about, even the most remotely humorous things became a good deal funnier.
"Do you see Mister Turner?" Talia asked, briefly wondering why she wasn't the one struggling to see, as she was taller by about two inches. Sarah groaned then replied in a muffled, strained-sounding "uh-uh."
Hopping back down onto her heels, Sarah twitched her ruffled skirt to look cleaner. "He's probably in there, just out of sight." She paused. "Hopefully." Talia nodded giving her a long lost well-gee-no-I-was-hoping-he-was-DEAD look.
It was around fifteen minutes later when the two were finally let inside (together, of course, because they insisted that they must be let in as a pair). Elizabeth led them to a parlor sort of place and beckoned them to sit down. Standing near by was, presumably, Will Turner, looking bored. Apparently the maid-home-shopping-network was not his cup of tea. Before their host could say anything, Sarah spoke.
"Miss…ah…Turner," She had altered her voice to sound more proper, as opposed to her almost drawling British accent that most were accustomed to hearing. "to be completely honest, we are not here to apply for a job--we're here for a much more important reason." It wasn't a wonderful introduction, but it would have to do. Neither of them had any ideas.
Talia nodded. She, too, altered her voice, though it was more difficult, and added to Sarah's statement. "Oh yes, much more important. Terribly." Elizabeth looked quite confused. She glanced at Will, who looked clueless as well as intrigued, now that the interview wasn't going to be about housework. Pursing her lips, she turned to face the women again, and Will took a seat next to his wife.
"Important?"
"Yes, quite." Sarah started to giggle as Talia continued to uphold her "proper" accent. It would be fun to string them along as such.
"…What could be so incredibly important?" Will asked. Sarah giggled harder, and Talia started a bit as well.
"Well, you see…there is a ship at the docks that is in command…" Sarah bit her lip to keep from bursting out in uncontrollable laughter and ruining her "proper" accent. Clearly she and Talia had been deprived of such amusements lately. Whispering, she continued. "…of a pirate."
Elizabeth turned to look at her husband and raised her eyebrows. He shrugged and frowned. It had become frightfully difficult to hold back laughter. Yes, it was very clear that they were having a great deal of fun with tricking them. More than natural.
"This pirate would like to speak with you, Mister Turner, and you, too, Miss." Sarah displayed her best are-you-intrigued gossiper's look. Now coming to the finale of their joke of sorts, they were attempting to calm down and they had dispersed much of their inane giggling.
"And what would two ladies be doing in the vicinity of a pirate?" Will replied. It appeared as though Elizabeth was too bewildered to speak.
"Well, for one thing," Talia said, as she dropped the prissy act and crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair casually. "we're not ladies."
"Oh, far from it." Sarah lost the disguise, as well, and was sitting in a much more comfortable position. "We're pirates as well." She finished Talia statement in a quieter tone so that no one else would hear. Elizabeth clapped a slender hand gently over her mouth and Will chuckled a little.
"And secondly, we sail with the pirate, and his name be Jack Sparrow--"
"Captain Jack Sparrow," Sarah put in. Talia nodded, rolling her eyes secretively, and agreed.
"Jack?" Miss Turner finally said something. She stood, skirt swaying delicately. It seemed to Talia that everything about this girl was fussed and primped. This annoyed her to no end. "God help Port Royal!" Elizabeth exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air with a flair of exasperation. Will could be heart muttering, "Well I'll be the friend of an axe-wielding dwarf…" with an amused smile on his face.
"So what now, do you want us to come with you?"
"It'd be lovely," Sarah replied. "and don't worry--we won't mug you, knock you out, throw you in to the sea, then run away." She held up one hand. "Scout's honor."
Giving each other a "geronimo" kind of look, the couple set off with the pirates to go meet Jack, who was, at the moment, playing cards with Ryan aboard the Death Lily (though he was going to return to the Black Pearl soon).
They hadn't gotten even half way to the ship when disaster struck. From behind the group came an oddly gentlemanly voice greeting Talia wit the utmost glee. She turned around to face Drew. He bowed to her, clearly pleased by her outfit. Talia, who was dying to get back and change, merely rolled her eyes.
"You hopeless fop." She said, aggravated. Drew looked up. "I have no time for this." Pulling him up from his bent over position by his hair, she grasped his shoulders, turned him around, and pushed him away. Returning to the group, she spoke again.
"Let's continue, shall we?" Will turned to stare at her. He seemed to think that it was odd how cruel she was. Sarah found it funny.
"Did…you know him?" He asked her.
"…Unfortunately," She replied blankly. "I hate him so." Elizabeth was listening curiously. Sarah folded her arms behind her head and grinned at Talia.
"He seems to be infatuated with you, however." Talia seemed startled and somewhat annoyed that she would make this highly obvious statement in her presence.
"And when did ye realize this!" She said loudly, causing her partner to laugh. Of course she already knew, and Talia knew that she did--it was just a bad point in time to be humorously sarcastic.
"Why are you so mean to him?" Elizabeth asked, finally making good use of her vocal chords. Talia had quickly become the subject of the conversation and she didn't like it . Stopping, she held up her hands to accentuate her statement.
"If you were me, and he was…him, you'd be vicious, too," She said, and then began to walk again, leaving the remainder of the group in silence to think about her announcement.
After a few moments of silence had passed, it became terribly boring, so Elizabeth, always the 'proud' (more like 'stuck up') one, decided to show off using her well-rounded vocabulary to one of the pirates, reasoning that not all pirates could possibly have such an outwardly visible education (like Captain Barbossa). Since she was just plain scared of Talia (and also, she seemed to have a pretty well-developed sense of wording--but then again, she had relations to Barbossa, so that seems pretty normal, doesn't it?), she turned to Sarah (fortunately, during the conversation, Talia was not listening at all, since she was more eager to get back to her ship)
"So, you travel with the Black Pearl?"
"Um, aye?"
"Oh, I see…I've been on the Black Pearl, you know."
"Have you now?"
"Oh, indeed. You see, six months ago, when the Pearl was still under the command of Barbossa, his crew came to Port Royal because they sensed that I held the gold coin that was part of…oh…what number was it…anyway, some number of coins in the cursed treasure of Cortez--"
"Oh, 882 coins."
"…Okay. Anyway, they knew I had it, so they tried to take it from me, but I demanded the right of parley--"
"You know about parley?"
"…Yes. Anyway, so they took me aboard the ship, and when confronted and asked what I wanted, I said that I wanted 'to negotiate the cessation of hostilities against Port Royal' and--"
"In other words, you used big words to try to confuse the stupid pirate."
"…What are you suggesting?"
"Nay, I'm not suggesting anything and I shan't suggest anything hitherto the conclusion of our conversation, which, to complete the necessary information of which you simply must be aware, is nigh."
Elizabeth stared at her, suddenly wishing she hadn't tried to impress her. Why was it that she could never beat pirates when it came to talking fancy? It seemed quite odd. Sarah smiled wryly. Not wanting to open her big, embarrassing mouth, the young wife of Will stayed silent for the rest of the journey, as did the rest of the group.
As they arrived, Elizabeth stared up at the ship and tilted her head. "Well, uh, the Black Pearl looks significantly different than when I last saw it…"
"This is my ship, you ill-minded daughter of Hades!" Talia exclaimed, itching to pull out her knives so as to slaughter the young bride of Mr. Turner. Elizabeth turned sheepishly to Talia and apologized, giggling girlishly. The captain rolled her eyes and proceeded to board her ship. "The Black Pearl be over there. Sarah, will you do the honors?"
Sarah stared at her, then shrugged and led the couple to Jack's hip where, appropriately, Jack, himself, stood waiting for his guests.
"Will! Elizabeth!" His face was smiling brightly. He opened his arms to them (not in embrace--'twas no the time for embrace…or, at least, that was Jack's opinion). A few seconds of wonderful reunion, then he turned to Sarah, who was standing a little behind Will and smiled. "Thanks, love."
"Aye." She smiled a bit boredly. She pointed at Elizabeth and mouthed, "She's such a wench!!" Jack shrugged good-naturedly. "Well, I'd best be returning to the Death Lily. See you around." Sarah waved to the group and departed.
"Well, Mister Turner--and his lovely bonnie lass--shall we proceed to me office for a chat and reminiscence?" Elizabeth, in reply to the captain's statement, smiled coyly and daintily rested her hands on her hips.
"And where would that be?"
Jack looked around, lifting his hands into the air. "Anywhere! Where would you like to go on the Pearl?" Will laughed out loud. They, at length, decided to begin their journey to the past near the helm (mostly in favor of Jack, who wanted to stand there for authority).
"Ah! 'Tas been such a long time since we last spoke! Such a long time since ye two, my friends, the Turners, helped me get back the Pearl!"
"It's only been six months, Jack," Elizabeth laughed absentmindedly, brushing several strands of brown hair out of her face and gazing brightly at the Captain who once was stranded on an island with her and made terrible pick-up lines while drunk--fortunately, she was married now and he wouldn't try anything to try to get her in bed. Hopefully. …Well, actually…no, he wouldn't do it. He was too good of friends with Will. At least that was a comforting thought.
"True, true…still, once I stayed on a ship with the same people for six weeks and we all went crazy and tried to kill each other. Six months is a long time, mates." Jack's insane stories and even crazier explanations never ceased to amaze and amuse Will and Elizabeth.
"Oh, who were those two women who came to get us--you know, the really violent Irish one and the British one who led us over here?" Will seemed curious and, as he mentioned it, his betrothed seemed to catch the interest, as well.
"Eh?" Jack looked up from where he was staring at the grain in the wood of the ship (easily distracted…) "Oh. The pointlessly scary one is Talia, the captain of the that ship, over yonder--" He jerked his thumb toward the Death Lily, where Talia could be faintly heard yelling at, most likely, an invisible. "and the significantly more docile Brit is Sarah, who works on the Death Lily." Again, he motioned to the ship in the background.
"And how did you come to travel with them, as they said?"
And so began Jack's long, drawn-out speech on, not only how he met Sarah, but how he met Talia in the Trading Company, how he made a pact with Talia (with Sarah as the binding factor), made another pact with Talia (same deal), and other miscellaneous happenings, all the while expression how violent Miss Frost was, how annoying Drew was (he told them about Drew), and how stubborn Sarah was, in that she still wouldn't come on his ship (though, actually, she had told him she would decide once the second negotiation was through--and the smile on her face as she said it made Jack feel confident in her answer).
When he finished, he paused to rest from talking, then asked how the happy couple's lives were, which sprung them into a long-winded discussion on recent happenings in Port Royal, such as how the recent discovery of new pirate ships had greatly distressed Commodore Norrington, how smugglers in some of the more forested shores were causing loss of sleep for the townspeople, and how their wedding had had to have been the most chaotic and insane ceremony ever held (Jack was half interested--sure, it was interesting, but town life just wasn't his cup of tea--or bottle of rum, you decide).
By the time both sides had finished, the sun had already begun to sunk into the sky, dappling everything with a rich, orangish color. Elizabeth jumped to her feet, exclaiming, "Oh! but it's late!" She glanced at Will, who looked perplexed, then stood up, as well. "I'm sorry, Jack, but we really must be going."
"Elizabeth's right. It's been simply splendid talking with you." Will nodded in agreement.
"Aw, don't ge' all prissy on me, boy, ye've still got pirate blood in you," Jack chided, lightly smacking Bootstrap Bill's only child over the head. "I say, tha' woman is a bad influence on you, Mister Turner."
"I beg to differ," Elizabeth interrupted, smiling. "Now, we'll be on our way. Thank you for coming to see us!"
"And don't' get arrested," Will added.
"Okay, okay!" The captain watched as they began to head back to their lush, non-piratey surrounding. Privately, he thought about what they had told him about the Commodore, then, with a sigh, leaned on the edge of the ship and looked at the fort. I knew I should have killed that bloody Norrington when I had the chance…
Technically, he never had the chance, which is probably why he was alive, but moving on.
He glanced at the Death Lily, considered dropping by, then changed his mind. As if it had been waiting for the Turners to depart, the sun had begun sinking lower in the sky much more quickly than before--such to a point that it was almost dark out. I'll go in the morning, He thought, heading toward the stairs leading below deck. He instructed Gibbs (whom he picked on frequently) to watch the crew, and then he slipped into his room and went to bed.
The next morning rose on a cheery note--the sun was blinking gaily in the cerulean shaded sky, clouds, small and white, puffed by, dragging with them a feeling of freedom that draped across all who set eyes upon them. There would, also, have been a gently silence--but Talia was awake at dawn, so the minute she spotted something wrong, away went the silence.
Jack came over around midday and hung out, making small chitchat and generally driving Talia crazy, as she was trying to force him off the ship.
He was talking with Sarah, Asher, and Adrian when Sarah was called over by Talia and Asher went to play cards with Ryan, leaving Adrian behind, looking around meekly behind two shining coal-black eyes. Jack thought for a moment, a mischievous grin playing across his face, then he seized the captain's twin by the arm.
"Come, you Mister Frost, and I'll give you a tour of sorts, savvy? Port Royal is a big place and who want to get lost, eh?" If the younger of the two had protested, the older did not hear it. He dragged Adrian off the ship and into the town, eager to show him around the town where he nearly was hanged--again.
- - - - -
Looking around from the fort, a spyglass resting loosely in his hand, Commodore Norrington strolled about, watching the town with a hind of boredom. Since the smugglers wouldn't show their face in the town and the newly found pirates had quickly been dispatched (not by him, much to his dismay), nothing of interest had happened for six months--Norrington selfishly wished for the cheap thrill that was capturing pirates. He even wished for the notoriously ridiculous Captain Jack Sparrow. Oh yes, he longed to see that man hanging dead from a rope.
"S-Sir!" A man shouted from a little ways off. The Commodore turned to face his Lieutenant, Gilette, who was pointing down at the town, clutching a spyglass of slightly less quality than the Commodore's, and the man was quite speechless.
"What?"
"Look!! Down there!"
Norrington frowned and pulled up his own spyglass, taking a sighing glance at where Gilette's finger pointed. At first he saw nothing, but as he was about to draw away, he spotted something at the harbor; a sinister-looking (to some degree) ship docked right in plain view--a pirate ship, almost no doubt! Norrington held back a smirk, then turned back to his lieutenant.
"A ship?" He raised his eyebrows.
"No--well, yes, but that's not what I'm referring to, sir, look over there!" He, again, gestured forcefully to the town. Rolling his eyes, Norrington raised his spyglass again to seek out what he was supposed to be seeing. This time, however, he got lucky and spied it almost immediately; a swaggering man in faded, brown, leather hat and jacket, strolling around in dreadlocks, accompanied by another man with red hair, who looked a bit more mature, if younger still (although most of this was a trifle unclear from the lens of the spyglass).
"Is it who I think it is, sir?"
"…Jack Sparrow…" Norrington mused, dropping the hand with his spyglass to his side. Looking around at the men who clearly heard what he said, he raised his eyebrows. "Well? You know what to do! Pirates, men, the noose awaits two more trespassers!" He ordered, his voice bordering on severe annoyance. "Gilette, bring the irons--two, if you please." The Commodore really hoped the men knew which two to arrest--his soldiers had never been the brightest of the bunch. Norrington smirked. His wish had been granted. Say goodbye, Mr. Sparrow. You won't escape this time.
"And that is the blacksmith shop where I assume our friend, dear William, still works--and where I fought him…and got arrested," Jack explained, motioning to the blacksmith shop he and Adrian stood in front of, gazing drearily up at the sign adorned with Turner instead of Brown (the governor recognized that Will was making all of the swords, not Mr. Brown.).
"There he is!"
That cry from a ways off startled Jack out of his funk, since he was used to hearing people shout 'there he is!" when he was around.
"Both of them!" Another shout from the same direction.
"…Jack, please don't tell me those are soldiers…" Adrian sighed and looked at Jack, who was tapping his fingers together in an attempt to look innocent.
"…Uh…no, they're…yeah, they're soldiers."
In a matter of seconds, the two pirates where surrounded by a growing amount of soldiers, Adrian receiving glances of anonymity and near-ignoring quality; Jack receiving triumphant grins, smirks, and glares, as well as a look of scolding from his companion. "Oop…" was all he could manage to mutter. He wracked his brain for an escape plan.
About a minute later, Norrington and Gilette pushed through the group--no, sorry, crowds of soldiers gathering around the pirates, who were just short of prepared. "Well, well. Mister Sparrow."
"Ca--"
"Yes, yes, captain. And who is your friend?"
Adrian wouldn't talk or something, so Jack answered instead. "Eh, his name's Adrian Frost." He glanced around at the surrounding soldiers, then leaned in close to Norrington. "Listen, Commodore, d'you have to arrest us?"
"Well, I cant' just let you go, now could I?"
"Actually, you could. Me mate an' I weren't causing any harm, just touring this lovely town, savvy? That doesn't warrant an arrest, does it?"
"That, in particular, does not." Norrington smiled wryly. "However, all the other things you have done, especially the things you did the last time you were in Port Royal, do justify such an arrest." He raised a hand to Gilette. "Gilette! Irons, both of them."
"Wh-what did I do?" Adrian sputtered. Truly, he had done nothing of offense.
"Traveling with him. And you are, no doubt a pirate."
"That's not fair!" And it wasn't.
Despite both men's protests, they were hauled off to the jail, locked in behind familiar (to Jack) crossed bars, glaring miserably at the small, fury, wild-looking dog with the keys clamped casually in its jaws.
"Thanks a lot, Jack."
"…Ehh…"
- - - - -
"…" Talia sat on board the Death Lily with a lackluster stare that was nearly blind to the invisibles' mistakes while behind the glaze covering her eyes. Sarah stood a little ways off, tapping her heel rhythmically against the step up to the helm, annoying anyone bored enough to stop and listen.
It had been several hours since Jack and Adrian had left (and been arrested, unbeknownst to the residence of the two pirates ships), and things had slowed down considerably.
Both women were shaken out of their catatonic states when Asher 1. bumped against Sarah in order to reach Talia and 2. tapped the captain, herself, on the shoulder.
"Ah--Talia?"
"Mmrg…what?"
"…Have you seen Jack or Adrian lately?"
Sarah turned to look at the two at the helm and frowned. "Didn't they leave to tour Port Royal a few…hours ago, was it?" Talia looked from her first mate to her friend, then back, then back again.
"I heard Adrian was over on the Black Pearl!" Ryan shouted from his card game with Chess, who was cheating while his opponent was distracted (the dirty--).
"Naw, I bet they're off at the tavern having a jolly old time," An invisible interjected, waving one lanky hand in the air.
"That, or Jack decided that Adrian was irritating. Or vice versa. Or they killed each other. Or themselves," One of the more morbid invisibles reasoned. All four of the individual's ideas were unlikely.
The discussion on the absence of the people went on and on until, finally, Talia charged forth, grabbing Sarah's arm with a determined look which reflected her grim curiosity as to the location of her brother and unlucky traveling companion, then strode off the ship.
"Where are we going?" Sarah stammered, following Talia. Talia turned with a glare that could kill something small.
"Well, no one seems to know where me brother is--"
"And Jack."
"…So I'm going to look for them myself so as to put a stop to this useless conjecturing. Looking is so much simpler--and more effective, I might add."
"…Uhm…kind of spontaneous there, Talia."
"I'm glad you noticed, Sarah. That says something about your integrity."
"Hey, you're calling me Sarah now!"
"…And?"
"…Nevermind."
After that, the conversation dwindled to a degree and they directed their attentions to looking for their missing comrades, which was somewhat more difficult than they had imagined, since they were nowhere to be found. The women checked everywhere they could think of and still could find no trace. Talia was about to suggest that they split up and go look in the placed they had already checked for a second time when a familiar and agonizingly irritating voice rang out from a few paces away.
"Looking for your friends, dear ones?"
Talia, of course, recognized it at once and it wasn't too long after she reacted that Sarah registered the disembodied voice as Drew's.
"Oh dear Lord…" Captain Frost groaned. She clearly did not want to converse with her love-struck, obsessive, enigmatic, infuriating, dull-witted, and psychopathic admirer. Sarah turned to him.
"Refraining from using one of the many words that describe you, what do you want?"
He stepped forward. Talia now turned around to see as he smoothed his hair and crossed his arms (she watched with absolute and mutual--with Sarah--disgust), an expression on with him which Sarah was, unfortunately, familiar with. He knew something, which was never good. "To drop a line that I know the location of your friends, be they apart or together," He pushed hair out of his frigid eyes. "and together is what they are."
Talia, now aware of what he knew, sprang forward and seized him by the collar, her blazing eyes battling with this icy ones. "Where's me brother, you impossibly, magnificently pompous blonde-striped field mouse!?"
Drew frowned, probably considering the insult she had just dealt, then regained his composure and answered her with a mysterious tone echoing in his voice. "Ah, but you would like to know, wouldn't you, my sweet?" Talia looked ready to kill and Sarah stood, attentive to Drew's words and still at the ready to restrain Talia, should she make a move to slaughter Drew before he was finished speaking (she wouldn't mind if she killed him, just if she killed him before they knew the location of their friends--then again, he was pushing it with his words…). "Well, I'll tell you…if you do something for me…"
"You'll tell me and be lucky to get away alive!" She snarled, jerking him in her grip at the neck of his shirt.
"Since when have you made deals, Drew? Usually you do things for free and leech off of people when it's of most value to you," Sarah stated pointedly, muttering under her breath, "The rotten worm…"
He swooned. "Ah, but love does things to people…" Talia snorted and Sarah rolled her eyes. "…Although…it is difficult when the one you love does not love you back…" Talia's eyes narrowed in a premonition of how she'd look right before she threw his bloody, mangled body into the sea. "…No matter. She'll come around!" He sounded quite cheery now. "I suppose I'll tell you, but you owe me!"
"I owe you nothing, peon!" She shook him violently three or four times, then set him down (the kind way of putting in words what she did) and stepped back to listen. "Speak."
He hesitated, a smirk still heavily evident on his face, then said, "Norrington decided to take Captain Sparrow and your beloved brother for a tour of the jail and, without thinking…or perhaps he was thinking…locked them in a cell." Drew looked devious and, at the same time, please, which was an odd thing for him to feel, given the circumstances. Both women knew what he meant by 'locked them in a cell'--they had been found and arrested.
Talia either looked passive or enraged, it was difficult to say--but enraged seemed more likely of Talia. "I'll kill Norrington," She said first, staring blankly at Drew, then she clenched her fists and glared at Drew, saying, "I will kill Norrington!" She continued to repeat this until she had gotten immeasurably worked up, then she turned to storm off to the fort, but Sarah grabbed her by the shoulders and attempted to hold her back. Drew, meanwhile, slunk off into the shadows, taking with him that strange and malicious aura that he always seemed to summon when he was near.
"Nonononono, Talia, wait--just--" Sarah struggled to keep her captain from rushing off, but it was terribly difficult, as Talia was weirdly strong when passionate about something.
"If you don't' let me go, I'll find that cleaver and remove your eyes--and as you know, cleavers aren't very accurate!" A long silence, but Sarah didn't let go.
'Would you listen??"
"To what!?"
Sarah clapped on hand over Talia's mouth to keep her from talking, which caused Talia to slam her foot down on Sarah's, which in turn caused Sarah to fall backwards, dragging her captain with her to the ground.
When they dust settled and Sarah's hand had fallen to the ground from Talia's mouth (which was, had she not stepped on her foot, ready to bit Sarah's fingers off), the red haired, violent Irishwoman sighed and grumbled, "Fine. What do you want to say?" She sounded incredibly cross.
Both women struggled to their feet, then brushed themselves off. "Okay…you know as well as I that it'd be downright foolish to storm the fort, what with the currently outnumbering force consisting of soldiers just waiting for us, so why don't we wait a day, think up a plan, then I'll go with you tomorrow. At least it's a better shot," She raised her eyebrows, eyes accompanying said gesture with a meaningful glance. "than running in blind."
Talia paused, reasoning the pros and cons of her underling's (as she perceived her) idea with a skeptical foresight, then grumbled to herself again, crossed her arms, and begrudgingly agreed.
They returned to the Death Lily, the news they had received of Jack and Adrian slipping along behind them, which generally hit reasonably hard. When the discussion began of what to do next, more than just the hot headed captain and her blond, sarcastic friend were involved; Asher frequently made suggestions, Chess and Ryan attempted to relieve stress by cracking really bad jokes, and even some of the invisibles, commonly the ones scared stiff of Talia, tried to spread ideas, though hardly any of them stuck. It wasn't until the next day that they actually found an idea that seemed reasonably enough to try it. The only problem was that it required Will Turner, and they weren't sure if he would be obliged to helping pirates.
Then again, he truly was a pirate, marriage to a governor's daughter or not, so they decided that they would find a way to convince him at all costs--after all, it was a matter of life and death.
When the time was reasonably, when it wasn't too early that no one would be awake and the sky was gray with smooth clouds that mirrored the monotony of Port Royal, which resembled every other port town in the majority of the Caribbean, Talia and Sarah set off for the home of Will and Elizabeth Turner.
For the second time in three days, a pair of pirates visited the Turners (which, since the pirates were not disguised as somewhat respectable women this time, was quite distressing to the servants and butler). Fortunately, Will and Elizabeth hurried them inside without a second thought so as to cut short the quick spreading rumors that would, no doubt, be flying around the estate in a minute or so.
"What are you doing here?" Will asked, the sounds of Elizabeth closing the dining room door audibly in the background. Talia restrained her urge to grab Will's collar (as was customary when she was angry and needing something from someone).
"You! Turner! What can you do when it comes to breaking people out of jail? Tell me, and be quick about it!"
The couple made noises of aggravation and exasperation, sending worried eyebrow messages. "Jack got himself arrested, didn't he?" Will asked, watching their 'guests' nod and stare intensely at him. "Well, since I have gotten Jack out before, I suppose I could do it again."
"And you had better be dem careful--me brother's there, too!!" Talia demanded as the group, which now consisted of three, traveled to the fort.
As they looked for a clear entrance to the fort, Will glanced skeptically at his partners and warily asked, "Uh…what's the plan, ladies?"
"You are!" Sarah replied, still searching for a safe passage into the building. This doesn't bode well… All three thought dismally.
Finally, they got sick of waiting and Talia ran forwards, knocking out the guards patrolling and ushering the other two inside. Similarly to the Nosferatu mission (in more ways than one, since they had to rescue Adrian again), they killed (or knocked out) every man they came across, leaving another clear trail of where they had been. On the bright side, if no one came while they were breaking their friends out of the slammer, they would have a nice, empty path to smuggle them out.
They arrived at the cells to see two occupied units--one holding Jack and the other holding Adrian and some random guy who Adrian was staying away from. It seemed as though Norrington wished to keep the two pirates who were friends in separate cells.
Jack was the one with the bone, trying to get the dog to come over (since Adrian was too busy staying away from the guy in his cell), frivolously attempting to grab the keys when the furry thing got close enough. They he noticed the rescue team.
"Sarah! Talia! And--Will?" As he said this, Adrian looked up.
"Talia!"
"Hey Adrian--who's that?" Talia was referring to the other man in her twin's cell; Adrian shrugged in reply.
Will stepped forward, scaring away the dog, then picked up a nearby bench. "Well, here I am again, Jack. Breaking you out of jail with my bench skills." He leaned on the end of the bench.
"Bravo, young Turner, I applaud your more rebellious streak, now break down this dem door again so I can catch that confounded dog and get Adrian out." Jack threw the bon into Adrian's cell, where Adrian, himself, caught it and watched with interest as Will wedged the legs of the bench between crossed bars. Since he was a blacksmith, and he had built the cells in the first place, he knew exactly how to get the door open without the key--something about hinges and leverage and pressure that no one understood when he tried to explain it. But he had gotten Jack out before, the same way, so the door came off with ease…or something of the like. Saving Jack the hassle of running off to find the key, Sarah had already found the dog and pried the keys out of its jaws. She unlocked the door, let Adrian scurry out, then locked the door before the other man could get out.
"Sorry, chap, but we gotta leave you here. My sympathies." She smiled sarcastically, then turned to the rest of the group. Jack was reapplying all of his belts and things, as well as slipping on his jacket and grabbing his hat. Adrian was standing by Talia and looking around anxiously, probably looking out for soldiers.
Since most of the men who could have heard the clamor of breaking out the pirates were either dead or unconscious, the good news was that no myriad of soldiers rushed down to arrest all five of them--the bad news was that someone did rush down to arrest them; it was only one person, but it was the worst person that it could be (well…yeah, I guess).
It was Commodore Norrington.
Talia narrowed her eyes in a cold stare--she could tell it was the Commodore because of his hat and all of the shiny things on his uniform. "Okay. Sarah, Will, take Jack and Adrian back to the ship--I'm going to teach the Commodore something about arresting my brother."
She didn't take her eyes away from the very poised-looking officer standing in front of her, but she heard the other four exit. As soon as they were gone, Norrington smiled. "So, you're going to teach me a lesson, Miss?" He stepped forward. Talia smiled back.
"Oh, yes, I'm a wonderful teacher--and my blade is a wonderful classroom aid." She drew her sword, which she didn't forget this time. Norrington drew his, as well.
For a change, Talia let Norrington make the first move, and he stepped forward (he was pretty close already, mind you) and…well, attacked. Talia parried easily and stepped back, smile still etched across her pale features. He attacked again--this time, our heroine stepped backwards to doge it, which, obviously, caused his sword the slice through the air about a half a foot away from the captain. Norrington frowned and pointed the tip of his blade at his challenger. "Well? Are you not going to attack me?"
"I'll attack when I'm dem well ready, you son of a mutant pig." This remark didn't seem to sit well with the commodore, and it became evident when he lunged forward and began attacking furiously, which triggered Talia's attacking in return.
Though both probably wouldn't admit it, they regarded each other as worthy adversaries; and at the same time, blow after blow, each wondered when defenses would break and an attack would actually land.
"Oh Commodore, you look so splendidly foppish with that wig. Prey tell--did you get it by scalping a seventy-year-old woman?" Talia pulled out a knife and used it to try and distract Norrington.
"And where did you learn to duel, Miss, from a deranged vampire bat?" And a second after he said this, the commodore was slammed backwards into the door of the cell that held Adrian's former cellmate. The man cried out in surprise, then burst into a furious fit of coughing. Talia spent her one moment of peace--when she was waiting for her opponent to recover--frowning, bewildered, at the backing, wheezing man. Was he sick or something?
However, she couldn't wonder this any longer, for Norrington was soon on his feet again, resuming the fight with somewhat renewed vigor. Talia, red hair like fire in the air, slid past him and retrieved her knife, then she tossed it behind her back, hitting Norrington's hat and wedging both the blade and the hat into the wall. She turned to see his frustration contorted face, and she smiled. "Lonely without your fancy hat? Look, without it, you're no commodore--you're just another half-witted soldier who's been primped to perfection on the surface--but you're still rotten within!" She taunted, watching him turn, trying to decide if he should retrieve his hat or not (he didn't).
"Impressive. Quite impressive," He said briskly, obviously ruffled by her comment. He was attempting to cool off, trying to look imperturbably professional (she could see right through it). "And without your honor, pirate, you're no better than you make me out to be--a sad mirror of a lost cause."
"I'm not the lost cause, Sarah is, but if you want to play it that way," Talia snickered. "…well dem, I won't even begin on your honor. Strutting around like the cock of the walk, barely scratched by 'petty emotions', you're worse off than you think, Commodore. Your life of restriction and rules are below the pirate, we live carefree--confined as you are, you're damaging, slowly chipping away at not only your pride, your honor, but your sanity--as you can so clearly see. Do not judge, lest ye be judged."
He fumed beneath the surface of his cool composure. She had near struck nerve--honor was incalculably important and to hear her turn his own words of honor against him was like nails on a chalkboard--or listening to Jack Sparrow, one of the two. Though as much as he wanted to reply with some equally stinging observation, all he could manage was, "And same to you." And so the fight began again.
The battle seemed to go on for ages (and probably would have, if not for divine--or rather, lucky--intervention from Talia's boredom rate), such to the point that Talia actually became bored and began fighting with a lack of motivation. Fortunately, she was still better than Norrington when without motivation. Finally, she jumped back, pulled out two knives and, when Norrington was close to the back wall and his hands were in the air, she hurled the blades at his coat cuffs. The act of doing so pinned him to the wall, since the force with which she threw the knives was quite powerful and wedged the blade tips immovably in the wall, much to Norrington's misfortune.
"I tire of this fight." She said blankly. Since she had prevented his movement with her knives and was wielding a sword saying that she was tired of the fight, Norrington suddenly feared that his demise was imminent--but Talia didn't care whether he lived or died. She picked up the bench that Will had used to pry open the door and heaved it at the commodore, who fell unconscious upon impact. "Goodbye."
After scouring the building for silverware and knife-like objects (she found a butter knife and a letter opener), she returned to where Norrington hung unconscious, replaced her knives with her newly found utensils, then left to return to her ship (secretly, unlike Sarah and company, who had merely rushed out, killing or overthrowing any soldiers who had gotten in their way).
A few minutes later, a soldier with a black eye and several nasty-looking bruises hurried down the stairs and pulled the sharp objects out of the wall so that Norrington crumpled to the ground. This, of course, woke him up, so he stumbled to his feet, leaning on the wall for support, then slowly became aware of what had just happened.
"Wha…oh--oh! You, soldier, did yo--what happened to you?" He had tried to ask if the soldier had seen Talia, but the man's many bruises had captured his interest first.
"Oh. Well, sir, several--meanin' four--pirates ran ou' o' the buildin' about a half an hour ago. We tried to figh' 'em, but they had the uppa' hand, so about fifteen o' so o' ou' men a' busted up pre'y badly--o' dead, one o' the two. A wo'man and three men--one of 'em migh' 'ave been tha' Jack Sparrow fellow." The man's accent was horribly difficult to translate, leaving Norrington with only the information that Jack and that 'Sarah' and their comrades had escaped by somehow overtaking around fifteen soldiers, which seemed just about impossible.
Norrington sighed depressively. "Detestable pirates…I wish there was a more efficient way of executing those loathsome beasts than hanging…"
"Beheadin' is efficient, sir." The soldier piped, hands clasped behind his back.
"…That's true…beheading…yes, that would work…now if only I could make a--wait, wait," He shook his head vigorously, remembering to stay on track. "tell me, did you see a red haired woman leave?"
"Uh, no, sir, we've jus' been gettin' up…well, the livin' ones o' us," Norrington slouched forward in disbelief. Those demned, elusive pirates…once more they had eluded his grasp, the scurrilous phantoms. He cursed the day that God, upon his amusement, created such reckless buccaneers to haunt his every move.
Looking up from where he was slumped over, he turned to stare at the soldier, who was staring into space with a look of admiration on his slack-jawed face. "Those have go' to be th' best pirates I've eva' seen…"
Commodore Norrington smacked his forehead desperately. His ridicule would never end, to be sure.