Summary: Nicole thought that all there was to know about her sister, Ruby,
was that she was her sister. She was wrong. There is much more to this girl
than meets the eye. Ruby has her own agenda. Who is this Ruby who leaves
her home at hours unheard of, tells stories that the adults do not approve
of, has an odd fixation with the ocean, and can laugh directly into a storm
with no fear in her heart? Who is she and where did she come from? She
doesn't belong, and that's all anyone knows. And what about her stories?
Who is the Girl?
Disclaimer: Any original characters are mine. Any that belong to POTC are POTC's. K? This disclaimer goes for all of the chapters. I won't be repeating it. (But I will add a small disclaimer if I add more songs or poems) I made up the lullaby for Nicole, but the 'Yo-ho-yo-ho' song is most obviously POTC.
~ Ruby Of the Sea ~
Chapter 1
A Past Unknown
Nicole had the best sister. All of the children agreed. Her sister was adopted, but that wasn't what made her the best. It wasn't that she was as slender as a cat and just as agile. Nor was it that half of the lads in the city were in love with her, though it certainly did help. It wasn't that she was so pretty, that she could get away with anything that she pleased and never got caught, that she could sail better than the sailors at the port, or that she could swim as well as any fish. It was the stories that she told. They enchanted Nicole's friends, and made the adult women whisper if the happened to hear. She told of adventure and romance. Of stormy seas, and dangerous fogs. Of mystic winds that would blow you to islands that were inhabited by magical creatures, and of sprites that could make you fall in love with the next person you saw. Such topics were strictly taboo in that port, and that made the tales only more appealing to the privileged few that would bear witness to them.
Nicole's sister's name was Ruby. At least, that's what she told everyone. Nicole's parents had named Ruby, Mary after they had adopted her. "After dear auntie." They would tell her. Ruby would smile and nod like a perfect angel, but as soon as they had turned their backs, she would sneak off to go swim in the harbor.
No one knew Ruby's real age, not even the girl herself, but the parson gave her the birth date of the twenty-first of August, and had decided that she be declared eighteen.
"Two more years, and you should be married." Mrs. Louis, her adoptive mother, would tell her. Ruby would always be silent during these times, but when Mrs. Louis had gone away, Ruby would always tell Nicole that the only man that she would ever marry would have to be a rascal, a merman, or a pirate. Everyone would laugh when she said that she would marry a pirate, but Ruby would just smile.
Ruby would always tuck Nicole in, then sit at the foot of the bed and say the Lord's Prayer with her sister, and then the plea would start.
"Tell me a story." It was Nicole's constant request at bed time.
"Another one?" Ruby would always ask, as though surprised that her sister would always want one, "Aren't you too old for a story?"
"Oh, no!" Nicole would reply, always eager for a fresh tale.
"Alright," Ruby would reply, "but just one."
Then Ruby would begin to tell the most wonderful stories. They were about pirates, usually. And almost always, about a Pirate named Jack Sparrow who sailed on a ship called The Black Pearl.
"Captain Jack Sparrow!" Nicole would remind her sister when ever Ruby forgot, though it wasn't often.
"Ai!" Ruby would reply, "And had anyone forgotten to call him so in his presence, he would take his sword and slice you to ribbons."
Nicole breathed in, delicious tingles running up and down her back, chilling her and making her squeal.
To be invited to the Louis household to stay over for the day was the ultimate dream of any girl, of age, or young.
After the story, every now and again, Ruby would sing: "Now, dream of treasures gold, and of caverns deep. Close your weary eyes and go down to sleep. For Ruby-maid's going down to she sea, and your mother and father, they shouldn't see me."
"Why do you call Mother and Father 'your' as though they weren't your own?" Nicole would ask when ever Ruby sang her song.
"The ocean fair is my mother, dear. And the sun so bright, my pappy. The steamy mix of gold and blue, are the only things that make my heart happy." Ruby would reply as she would take off her dress and put on ragged pantaloons, a torn shirt, and leather boots.
Nicole would always try to stay awake long enough to see Ruby slide out her window, but always fell asleep before Ruby had managed to finish unlacing her hated corset.
By morning, Ruby would be in her room, asleep, and the only evidence that she had even left would be the open window of Nicole's bedroom.
As Ruby, in her more comfortable clothes, walked down the darkened streets towards the harbor she would always feel the need to sing. She almost always did.
"Yo, ho, yo ho! A pirate's life for me! We pillage and plunder, we bribe for the loot, drink up me hearties, yo ho! We pillage and ravage and don't give a hoot, drink up me hearties, yo ho!"
Ruby had been seen before, and even fired at by drunken old governors who had come to hate and fear pirates. She even had a bullet hole in her left thigh to prove it.
She was going down to the beach on a mission all of her own. She had never told anyone why she went, no one except Nicole even knew that she left, and Nicole looked up to her too much to question her.
Ruby closed her eyes and remembered the story she had told Nicole that very evening. Ruby knew the way by heart, so she did not fear getting lost.
*~*_*~*_*~*
A girl stood at a port. She had cut her hair short in a boy's style, and had nothing more than one bag in her hand, and the clothes on her back. Her parents had just died, leaving her an only child and an orphan. It didn't matter. She'd always had a fierce streak of independence, and she had left just as soon as she had seen her parents dead. Before her meddling family had come and tried to put her in an orphanage. The girl doubted that the orphanage would take her anyway, because she was a least sixteen, 'But better safe than sorry.' The girl murmured as she looked about for a boat to stow away on.
She wasn't sure which one to board, when she saw a huge ship pull up. She knew its name without having to see it, or ask anyone. It was the Amabilidad, the Spanish trade ship that was said to have raced the Black Pearl and won. The girl shook her head. No, never: the Black Pearl was definitely faster than this old wreck could ever hope to be, but it was still fast...and the captain was said to be a gentle old man. 'All the better if I'm caught' She thought. For a moment she walked about the harbor as though waiting to board a ship, but she eventually returned to the Amabilidad.
"Might as well." She said as she threw her only bag into a barrel that was soon to be put onboard.
Quickly, so as for no one to see her, she jumped into the barrel too. In five minutes she felt the barrel being moved. First it was knocked onto its side. She had expected them to do that, so she had previously taken a cloth from her bag, and wound it loosely around her head so that it wouldn't hit the side too hard.
Next came the rolling. She hated this part. She went round, and around, and around, and around, and around until she was not sure if they had stopped or not because she was so dizzy. Finally, after a century it seemed, the rolling really did stop. The girl relaxed, hoping that it really was over now. It turned to be a mistake. When she relaxed, the cloth fell down, and she was too sick to pick it up. The barrel then was set upright. The girl did not expect this, and her head banged against the barrel. And forever after, she had a soft place on her scull just behind her ear, and it would hurt dreadfully if anything touched it.
*~*_*~*_*~*
Ruby walked to the beach. She took off her boots, and waded into the water up to her hips. Then she stood still.
The moon was shining on the water, and making it look like silver silk...he had told her once that her hair felt like silk...but that was a long time ago, and he was probably dead anyway.
Ruby took comfort in the serenity of the silver light. Not much mattered while she was out...only that she see It again...maybe some day she would...maybe not...
She lost track of time and of space, as she indulged in the luxury of the ocean. It filled her flesh, it ran in her blood, it was the tears that she shed, the ocean was the essence of Ruby's being.
Ruby heard a cock crow, shattering the silence. She jumped when she heard it, but quickly glided back to the shore.
Ruby headed back to her home, running down the cobble road barefoot, her boots slung over her shoulder and her dark hair flying.
Ruby stepped on something sharp. She winced as she felt the sole of her foot become sticky, and the ground where her foot stepped became dark with blood.
"If I'm late..." Ruby muttered, but left her sentence unfinished as she ignored the sharp pains in her right foot every time she stepped down, and continued.
--------------------------------------------- ** I've written more than just one chapter, but am only going to post after I get five reviews. In the next chapter I will be answering them. So please, R&R!^_^ **
Disclaimer: Any original characters are mine. Any that belong to POTC are POTC's. K? This disclaimer goes for all of the chapters. I won't be repeating it. (But I will add a small disclaimer if I add more songs or poems) I made up the lullaby for Nicole, but the 'Yo-ho-yo-ho' song is most obviously POTC.
~ Ruby Of the Sea ~
Chapter 1
A Past Unknown
Nicole had the best sister. All of the children agreed. Her sister was adopted, but that wasn't what made her the best. It wasn't that she was as slender as a cat and just as agile. Nor was it that half of the lads in the city were in love with her, though it certainly did help. It wasn't that she was so pretty, that she could get away with anything that she pleased and never got caught, that she could sail better than the sailors at the port, or that she could swim as well as any fish. It was the stories that she told. They enchanted Nicole's friends, and made the adult women whisper if the happened to hear. She told of adventure and romance. Of stormy seas, and dangerous fogs. Of mystic winds that would blow you to islands that were inhabited by magical creatures, and of sprites that could make you fall in love with the next person you saw. Such topics were strictly taboo in that port, and that made the tales only more appealing to the privileged few that would bear witness to them.
Nicole's sister's name was Ruby. At least, that's what she told everyone. Nicole's parents had named Ruby, Mary after they had adopted her. "After dear auntie." They would tell her. Ruby would smile and nod like a perfect angel, but as soon as they had turned their backs, she would sneak off to go swim in the harbor.
No one knew Ruby's real age, not even the girl herself, but the parson gave her the birth date of the twenty-first of August, and had decided that she be declared eighteen.
"Two more years, and you should be married." Mrs. Louis, her adoptive mother, would tell her. Ruby would always be silent during these times, but when Mrs. Louis had gone away, Ruby would always tell Nicole that the only man that she would ever marry would have to be a rascal, a merman, or a pirate. Everyone would laugh when she said that she would marry a pirate, but Ruby would just smile.
Ruby would always tuck Nicole in, then sit at the foot of the bed and say the Lord's Prayer with her sister, and then the plea would start.
"Tell me a story." It was Nicole's constant request at bed time.
"Another one?" Ruby would always ask, as though surprised that her sister would always want one, "Aren't you too old for a story?"
"Oh, no!" Nicole would reply, always eager for a fresh tale.
"Alright," Ruby would reply, "but just one."
Then Ruby would begin to tell the most wonderful stories. They were about pirates, usually. And almost always, about a Pirate named Jack Sparrow who sailed on a ship called The Black Pearl.
"Captain Jack Sparrow!" Nicole would remind her sister when ever Ruby forgot, though it wasn't often.
"Ai!" Ruby would reply, "And had anyone forgotten to call him so in his presence, he would take his sword and slice you to ribbons."
Nicole breathed in, delicious tingles running up and down her back, chilling her and making her squeal.
To be invited to the Louis household to stay over for the day was the ultimate dream of any girl, of age, or young.
After the story, every now and again, Ruby would sing: "Now, dream of treasures gold, and of caverns deep. Close your weary eyes and go down to sleep. For Ruby-maid's going down to she sea, and your mother and father, they shouldn't see me."
"Why do you call Mother and Father 'your' as though they weren't your own?" Nicole would ask when ever Ruby sang her song.
"The ocean fair is my mother, dear. And the sun so bright, my pappy. The steamy mix of gold and blue, are the only things that make my heart happy." Ruby would reply as she would take off her dress and put on ragged pantaloons, a torn shirt, and leather boots.
Nicole would always try to stay awake long enough to see Ruby slide out her window, but always fell asleep before Ruby had managed to finish unlacing her hated corset.
By morning, Ruby would be in her room, asleep, and the only evidence that she had even left would be the open window of Nicole's bedroom.
As Ruby, in her more comfortable clothes, walked down the darkened streets towards the harbor she would always feel the need to sing. She almost always did.
"Yo, ho, yo ho! A pirate's life for me! We pillage and plunder, we bribe for the loot, drink up me hearties, yo ho! We pillage and ravage and don't give a hoot, drink up me hearties, yo ho!"
Ruby had been seen before, and even fired at by drunken old governors who had come to hate and fear pirates. She even had a bullet hole in her left thigh to prove it.
She was going down to the beach on a mission all of her own. She had never told anyone why she went, no one except Nicole even knew that she left, and Nicole looked up to her too much to question her.
Ruby closed her eyes and remembered the story she had told Nicole that very evening. Ruby knew the way by heart, so she did not fear getting lost.
*~*_*~*_*~*
A girl stood at a port. She had cut her hair short in a boy's style, and had nothing more than one bag in her hand, and the clothes on her back. Her parents had just died, leaving her an only child and an orphan. It didn't matter. She'd always had a fierce streak of independence, and she had left just as soon as she had seen her parents dead. Before her meddling family had come and tried to put her in an orphanage. The girl doubted that the orphanage would take her anyway, because she was a least sixteen, 'But better safe than sorry.' The girl murmured as she looked about for a boat to stow away on.
She wasn't sure which one to board, when she saw a huge ship pull up. She knew its name without having to see it, or ask anyone. It was the Amabilidad, the Spanish trade ship that was said to have raced the Black Pearl and won. The girl shook her head. No, never: the Black Pearl was definitely faster than this old wreck could ever hope to be, but it was still fast...and the captain was said to be a gentle old man. 'All the better if I'm caught' She thought. For a moment she walked about the harbor as though waiting to board a ship, but she eventually returned to the Amabilidad.
"Might as well." She said as she threw her only bag into a barrel that was soon to be put onboard.
Quickly, so as for no one to see her, she jumped into the barrel too. In five minutes she felt the barrel being moved. First it was knocked onto its side. She had expected them to do that, so she had previously taken a cloth from her bag, and wound it loosely around her head so that it wouldn't hit the side too hard.
Next came the rolling. She hated this part. She went round, and around, and around, and around, and around until she was not sure if they had stopped or not because she was so dizzy. Finally, after a century it seemed, the rolling really did stop. The girl relaxed, hoping that it really was over now. It turned to be a mistake. When she relaxed, the cloth fell down, and she was too sick to pick it up. The barrel then was set upright. The girl did not expect this, and her head banged against the barrel. And forever after, she had a soft place on her scull just behind her ear, and it would hurt dreadfully if anything touched it.
*~*_*~*_*~*
Ruby walked to the beach. She took off her boots, and waded into the water up to her hips. Then she stood still.
The moon was shining on the water, and making it look like silver silk...he had told her once that her hair felt like silk...but that was a long time ago, and he was probably dead anyway.
Ruby took comfort in the serenity of the silver light. Not much mattered while she was out...only that she see It again...maybe some day she would...maybe not...
She lost track of time and of space, as she indulged in the luxury of the ocean. It filled her flesh, it ran in her blood, it was the tears that she shed, the ocean was the essence of Ruby's being.
Ruby heard a cock crow, shattering the silence. She jumped when she heard it, but quickly glided back to the shore.
Ruby headed back to her home, running down the cobble road barefoot, her boots slung over her shoulder and her dark hair flying.
Ruby stepped on something sharp. She winced as she felt the sole of her foot become sticky, and the ground where her foot stepped became dark with blood.
"If I'm late..." Ruby muttered, but left her sentence unfinished as she ignored the sharp pains in her right foot every time she stepped down, and continued.
--------------------------------------------- ** I've written more than just one chapter, but am only going to post after I get five reviews. In the next chapter I will be answering them. So please, R&R!^_^ **