Victoria could stand it no longer. She kicked the covers back and leaped out. Even though a woman wasn't supposed to use weapons, she grabbed Captain Sparrow's extra pistol from the bedside table. She clumsily tried to figure out how to load it when the door opened. It was Barbossa.
"Jack sent for ye! We need help!" he said fiercely, pulling Victoria's arm. Victoria stumbled outside as slowly, like a chain reaction, everyone stopped fighting. For a moment, everyone gaped at her in her loose fitting slip and her damp dirty hair. Then the whistles and the catcalls started.
"Yes, it is dreadful luck to bring a woman aboard. But whoever made this rule must've not seen the likes of this girl. Sparrow, you definitely know who to bring aboard!" the other men teased. Captain Sparrow looked embarrassedly at Victoria. She smiled nervously as the fighting recommenced.
"FIGHT!" Barbossa said, shooting her pistol at a man who was running past them. Victoria gasped.
"How positively barbaric!" she moaned as she made for the door to go back inside. He grabbed her wrist.
"You stay with your people. Always. Don't matter if they got shot. You need to help us, girl! C'mon!" Victoria shook violently as Barbossa loaded her pistol correctly. He handed it to her. "Now go."
Victoria started running along the perimeter of the ship. She only knew that Barbossa and Captain Sparrow were on her side. She didn't know who was an enemy and who wasn't. There was nothing she could do except run and shoot at the sky. Suddenly, a pirate jumped in front of her.
"Well, hello fair lady. I s'pose yer the beauty Sparrow kidnapped. Why don't ye come over and let me get to know ye…" Victoria held the pistol in front of his face, between his eyes. He froze on the spot.
"Wench," he spat, before running off. She ran to the bow of the ship and stood in front of the steering wheel. Victoria noticed another pirate climbing on the sails. Taking action, she spun the wheel abruptly. The opposite sail swung around and threw him off into the water.
"Good going, love! Get inside 'fore another scallywag do you the same!" Captain Sparrow called out as he was fighting off a pirate. Victoria didn't need telling twice. She sped off to the cabin and locked herself in.
Once inside, she went through Captain Sparrow's dry clothes and pulled out a pair of pants and a shirt. She noticed her corset lying atop his clothes, slit down the middle. Victoria used it to cover the window before changing into her new pirate clothes. Suddenly, she heard a thud outside. A split second later, the door of the cabin was blasted open.
"In there!" someone shouted. Frantically, she slid beneath the bed and hid there. She willed herself not to breathe too loudly, or the pirates would find her. Victoria could hear them going through the clothes. They snickered when they saw her corset on the window.
"Stupid strumpet, what a sneaky little tease. Looks like ol' Jack got 'imself more than just another 'ostage, 'e got 'imself someone to entertain 'im!" a gruff voice said. She heard people laughing uproariously. Victoria clenched her teeth, holding herself back. But it was too late. They heard her grunt with anger.
"Lessee what we got 'ere 'neath the bed, shall we? Gold, per'aps?" another pirate said as Victoria saw bent knees on the floor. They were going to get her.
"Ah! No gold at all! But we found the girl! C'mon out, little strumpet! We won't 'urt you. We know what you've been doing for Jack an' all, and we just want to know why you can't do the same for us!" the pirate said, peering under the bed. Snickering followed, as she was yanked out from underneath the bed. Next thing she knew, she was pinned against the wall.
"You fools. Unhand me!" she said, trying to intimidate them. They laughed.
"She 'asn't been a pirate for long, 'as she? 'ave you not 'eard the tales? The stories? Surely you know of the Pirate's Code? Even the wenches in Tortuga know of that. So that's where you're from, is it? Tortuga?"
"Let me go! I'm not a wench, I've barely known the Captain long enough to do anything with him, and I'm not going to do anything for you either!" Victoria yelled, trying not to sound frightened, as the pirates laughed again.
"What's all this about? Leave the girl alone!" Captain Jack Sparrow appeared in the doorway, yielding a sword. He swung it around at the pirates until they left, dropping Victoria into a heap. Finally, he turned to her.
"Ah. I see you're wearin' me clothes. Do they suit you?" he said, chuckling. Victoria mumbled a barely audible "yes".
"Y'alright, love? Terrible thing for you to go through on your first day as a pirate. Now, Barbossa's preparing food in the galley. You can help him, or you can help me doing little things around me ship. Thing is, you can't sit in me cabin while I do the work all by me onesies, savvy?" he said, helping her up.
"I'll help you, Captain," Victoria said, not wanting to be alone anywhere with Barbossa. Jack flashed her a toothy grin.
"Thanks, love. Oh and by the by, you can just call me Jack." Victoria smiled back as he left muttering to himself about rum. She realized with a jolt that she had to help out, and ran after him.
Jack took her around the ship, introducing Pintel, Ragetti, Bo'sun, Koehler, Jacoby, and a number of other pirates.
After being introduced, Victoria helped Jack with many other chores. She helped him scrub the blood off the deck, she repaired broken tools, and she ended up also helping Barbossa, which, in her opinion, was her most frightening experience.
Sometime while she was gutting a fish with Jack's first mate, Jack grabbed her arm.
"Follow me," he whispered into her ear. She trailed behind him, ending up in his cabin again. He gestured to his bed, and she sat. Locking the door behind him, he turned to her and smiled.
"Me favorite part of any day," he said, "is the rum." He pulled out two bottles of rum and handed the smaller one to Victoria.
"Drink up, me 'earties, yo ho," she said softly, taking a swig of the sweet rum.
"How do you know that song?" Jack said. Victoria shrugged.
"I used to think it'd be positively fascinating to meet a pirate. Especially you." Jack beamed, and for the first time being on a ship, Victoria felt warm inside, and her stomach hurt. But she didn't want it to go away. Her eyes remained locked on him, and she couldn't pull them away. Before she could do anything else, though, Barbossa barged in.
"Captain Sparrow. I need to have a word with ye."
A/N: Let me know if this is a better change. I took a crash course at the OFUCI. Look that up, it's under Mercuria, I think. It's very educational. And now, I hope it's not AU anymore. Tell me what you think! Review!