A/N Ok, first the disclaimer; I do not own any of the original Disney characters in this story, and I can't quite say I own Anne either, or the Revenge.
Ok, now, to those of you who won the question for the last chapter; congrats to Paaje and Blacklabel… The Revenge was John Rackham/Calico Jack's ship. I know this probably won't make any sense to some of you until I explain what's going on. Paaje and Blacklabel each get to split my rum stash 50% (*sob, sob, good bye, precious rum) and a bag of cookies to each of you, shaped like Jack's head.
But, first tell me what you're going to do with ten minutes on an island with Jack. Make me laugh, and I'll throw in your chainsaws too. : D
Now, to my wonderful reviewers; Lil' LiSe, Paaje and Orca Girl, thank you once again for being so consistent… reviews honestly help be get inspired… this morning when I woke up and checked my e-mail, I found four reviews and all of a sudden, reading them, I was like 'I know what will happen next!' So thanks. My inspiration.
To Blacklabel… new reviewer, yay! Your review was so long, wow : D… did you actually look up all that stuff, or did you just know it? Before I wrote this fic, I spent about an hour surfing the net and looking at Anne Bonny and all the stuff that she might have had anything to do with… and every once in awhile I had to go check something to write this… now, it is true that John Rackham's ship was the Revenge, and I'm pretty sure that it was a common ship name… seeing as how kewl it is. I did know that Blackbeard's ship was the Queen Anne's Revenge… and I did know that the Pearl has Rackham's Jolly Roger. I never knew that the Jolly Roger was Rackham's until I get a review saying that wouldn't it be weird for Anne to see that the Pearl has Rackham's Jolly Roger. Well, I was always meaning to stick some bit in about how she would notice it, but I haven't got around to it yet. I think it would be weird for her, though.
Anyways, reading your review gave me a fuzzy feeling inside. Glad you liked it, mate. Here's the update, ppls;
Anne stared at the dingy walls across from her cell. It was worse being in here and wanting to live then being in that cell before and wanting to die. Now the guilt she felt was worse than anything she had ever felt before… Mari's whole life, her whole future was being thrown away and it was Anne's fault. And what could she do about it? Anne was just… trying to help, and now… she could imagine the little girl feeling lost and alone in a room at one of the local brothels… whorehouses, disgusting. Poor Mari. Innocent, with high hopes and dreams, but she saw now that her hopes were all dependent on Anne pulling through, and then there was the evil sense of responsibility nagging at her mind.
Using the bars on her cell, she pulled herself off the floor and tried to ignore the disgusting reek of dead fish and rotting vegetables wafting around her. This room had obviously been used as a galley before, but she could see how it wouldn't work as a galley; there was about an inch of murky water on the floor and any food that fell on the ground or crates full of food resting on the floor would have been soaked and contaminated with disgusting water.
The wooden bars of the brig looked like if she pushed hard enough they's snap… wood rots after awhile, especially if it's been eaten away and weakened by an inch of dirty water. Anne didn't even want to think about what things were making that water dirty. She knelt down around the base of the wood, ignoring the water soaking through her clothes around her knees, and inspected the bottoms of the bars. They were weak, she could tell, but not weak enough to escape. Nevertheless, she placed her hands around the bottom of one of the bars and pushed with all her might, throwing her weight into in. The wood was slippery and slimy, but not smooth, and she couldn't grasp it… she soon stopped pushing, recognizing that if she continued, she'd get a splinter. She sighed and leaned back, falling back into the water in the corner of the cell with a small splash, water spattering the last places where it was dry on her clothing. Not that she cared… it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered was getting out of here so that she could help Mari, so that the little girl would have a chance again.
Funny thing, about plans. When Anne had a plan, everything worked out, but she always had the most horrible feeling, like she was betraying everyone. Now, when she finally felt good about helping Mari, when her only plan was to get a ship of her own, nothing was working. And she still had that horrible betraying feeling, because she knew that if she didn't get out of here, Mari would spend the rest of her life wanting something else. Anne should have just left her in Port Royal, at least there she'd be happy and still wanting to be somewhere else. A life at the brothels would not be something that Anne wanted to have on her conscience. Guilt hurts more than grief.
Anne glanced at the wall of the ship, running her eyes over the surface of the wood, inspecting every little dent and hole, every rotted out space, because she was bored. When you're alone and there's nothing to do but listen to your own mind, you start going crazy and telling yourself that you're a bad person. Anne wanted to avoid all that… she did not want to give up, lose hope. She was slightly surprised to find a small hole in the wall of the ship. Standing up and shaking the water from her clothes, she closed one eye and peered through the tiny hole with the other.
At first, all she saw was the water. She was surprised at how close it was… it was a little scary at first, water only seven feet away. But she had spent her life on the water, so it was easy to get over it. Next, she peered at the horizon and get a second shock. The ship, the one she saw before, was much closer. It was obviously doing a better job of catching the wind, and she could see it better and clearer than before. Her vision blurred for a second when she was forced to pull away from the hole… a shock of wind hit the side of the ship, another show of evidence that a storm was coming. She pulled herself back to the hole and peered through once again, squinting into the sun to see the ship.
The first thing she noticed was the flag. The Jolly Roger. Calico Jack's flag. She remembered seeing it on the Pearl too, and feeling funny, but somehow on the Pearl, it always felt like it belonged there, maybe because she had always felt like the Pearl was home.
But the ship she was seeing wasn't the Pearl, and that was what was shocking her. It was a ship called The Revenge. It was her ship.
Of course, she had heard the rumors. After her ship was taken by the British navy, it was commandeered by a band of rogue pirates and these pirates were now roaming the land and taking what they pleased, destroying and raping and pillaging when they felt like it.
It was a direct stab to her heart to see her beautiful ship sailing there, and she not on it. Knowing that her ship was overrun by savage… pirates, so… evil. She seethed with anger. She hit the wall of the ship with her fist, sliding to the floor when she realized that there was absolutely nothing she could do about any of this. It was almost unfair… she had never been a person to want revenge, and now when the opportunity was practically staring her in the face, looking for her, she couldn't take it.
She would have cried if she had been the type of person who would cry. But she couldn't cry… so many things were depending on everything now. What if their ship took over? What would happen to Mari? What would happen to her?
She couldn't imagine what would happen, and come to think of it, she didn't want to. What if she imagined something terrible? She found herself wishing that Jack would find them, for the first time she wanted him to find them. It was the only thing that might save her and Mari. If he was looking for them, if only he was here…
She thought back to that first night on the Pearl, when she had thought about Jack, thinking that she might be able to trick him and his crew, to take over the Pearl. It had seemed like it might have been easy at first, but now that Anne thought about it, she realized why it wouldn't work. Jack had something that nobody else had… it was a certain air to him, his stance, and his walk, everything he said… he just radiated some feeling, and Anne respected that. She respected it too much to take it away from him. Because every time she tried to take it away from him, like leaving him without his Pearl… well, that hadn't worked. She had even tried to give him a hint so that he would find the Pearl again. He always managed to take back whatever it was that he lost.
It was something that made it hard for her to not respect. It's a hard thing to find a good captain in these times; the golden age of piracy coming to a close, and if there ever was a good example of captain, it would be Captain Jack Sparrow.
If only he were here now… Anne thought wistfully.
And like magic, she could see the faint outline of a ship on the horizon… it was faint and dull, and the next moment it was gone, so that Anne might have thought that it was never there at all. But it was.
The Black Pearl…