A/N: There's just one little thing I should mention: This fic does not have the same plot as the movie. While the same general thing happens, there are different circumstances. There is also a lack of old, ugly, cursed pirates, because it would be mucho illogical to have the King Pirate, and then a whole bunch of others who are smelly and... yeah. Author thanks at the bottom.
Little did Jack know, that at the exact same time he was cursing the Swann Family Name, Elizabeth Swann was doing the same. As she and her father pushed through the endless ammounts of people in the building, she couldn't help but wonder what life would have been like had she been blessed with a normal family. Of course, she didn't mind the money. The designer clothes, the jewelry, the maids... But she loathed being in the public eye all the time. If she failed at anything, people knew, and it was irritating.
Elizabeth did not like people knowing about her faults and failures.
Once they had exited into the dreary English morning, she took a deep breath, savoring the fresh air. People had a habit of coating themselves in smelly colognes before attending functions of this nature, and it always made her a bit light headed. And as they walked, her father greeting everyone and giving short speeches to news anchors, Elizabeth examined the people standing around them. Someone caught her eye.
He was a man with high cheekbones and a rather pale face; longish, soft-looking black hair gently falling into his equally black eyes. He wore clothes that looked rather depleted, and... And then she noticed the briefcase. The fine, obviously hand-crafted Italian leather briefcase that looked so out of place in his bony hand, brushing against the ragged leg of his jeans. He narrowed his eyes at her, as if daring her to do something, and then turned around and marched off with all the authority of a king.
Something's amok, she thought to herself. With the way he's dressed, I honestly doubt that he could afford such a thing as that case. Which means someone gave it to him...
Elizabeth carefully looked behind her, where her father was wrapped up in another one of his grand declarations. Then, being the adventurous girl that she was, and without so much as acknowledgement from any of the surrounding people, she slipped away from the crowd and followed the curious man.
She followed him for a good seven streets before she began to grow weary. The sound of her high-heels clipping against the sidewalk gradually slowed, and she resumed a sluggish, almost elderly, pace. It disturbed her slightly that as she adjusted to her lagging pace, so did the man she was following. More than ever, she wondered what on earth was going on.
He could be some kind of hitman for the mafia, she said to herself, imaginative notions filling her head rapidly. He could be a dangerous felon who broke out of jail to...
But with that thought, Elizabeth stopped, facing the back wall of a dead end alley. The victim of her stalking had somehow managed to vanish right in front of her. She sighed, defeated, when she felt something move behind her. The hair on the back of her neck rose.
Without warning, she spun around and backed into the wall, staring into the murky eyes of her target.
"I hate to seem suspicious," he said, taking a small step closer to her and setting the briefcase down beside him. A breeze stirred, blowing his scent towards her nostrils. He smelled like some sort of alcoholic beverage and cigarettes, much to Elizabeth's dismay -- she had never really liked ... dirtier smells. "but have you been following me?"
"Me?" she squeaked, her heart pounding viciously in her chest. "Following... you? Where do you get an absurd idea like... that...?"
But as she tried desperately to lie, she knew it was of no use. His crooked grin coupled with the obvious amusement in his eyes told her that she wasn't going to pull anything off whilst in his company.
"Alright," she sighed, feeling overcome with quite a few emotions. "alriiiiight, alright. I was following you." Here the man's smirk broke into a wide, leering smile, "but only because you looked so blasted suspicious with that stupid briefcase." A new thought suddenly leapt into her head: "You're... not going to hurt me, are you?"
He chuckled, and stepped towards her yet again, that awful countenance still plastered to his face. "Well, you are one sexy little muffin," -- here he waggled his eyebrows -- "but I'm afraid I'll have to decline your wonderfully thoughtful offer."
"Wha - that - ! That wasn't an offer!" she exclaimed, feeling very angry and very unlucky to be in such a situation with a character she didn't know, but the man just ignored her.
"Well, I've really got to be going, luv," he said, shrugging his shoulders with indifference. "have a charming afternoon."
He picked up his briefcase, spun on the heel of his shoe and began swaggering off in the direction of the street connecting to the dead-end, but before he could get five feet away, Elizabeth Swann once again opened her mouth.
"What's in your briefcase?"
He turned right back and gave her the most menacing scowl in the world. "None of your bloody business." he ground out, looking very ready to spit nails if the need arose.
"I'm not sure if you know," she said, trying very hard to glare right back at him. "but I'm Elizabeth Swann. If you leave without telling me, I'll report you to the police with accusations of very indecent behavior, if you catch my meaning."
He put that evil grin into play again. "If you must know," he said, the tone of his voice oozing mockery. "In this briefcase I have stored fifty-thousand dollars. But now that you know, darling, I'm afraid I can't just leave you around to spread the word."
He reached into the pocket of his shabby jacked and pulled out, much to Elizabeth's horror, a gleaming silver pistol.
Diana: Well, I'm glad that you didn't find corniness and cliches! I would have been very sad then. Thanks so much for reviewing, and I hope this is as good as the first chapter!
rythmteck: Thanks for reviewing, it really means a lot. Anyway, your review was so nice and full of compliments! And I'm so glad you loved it! *laughs evilly* I love writing PotC. I should do this more often!
Kez.M: Well... thank you for the review and for my very first threat review! Ever! And what violent incentive it was... *smiles happily*