A/N You know what? I don't feel like putting a disclaimer on this chapter. I mean, we all know that I don't own Jack, or the Pearl and all that, right? Why must I tell you over and over again when it's like pouring salt on a wound? *sobs* Why? Why, cruel world? Why can't I own Jack? I don't even own his hat! I do, however, own Jack cookies. *grins evilly* you can't have them! They're mine! But if you want one, you have to review first… all my reviewers for this chapter gets two free Jack cookies. If you'd rather have a Will cookie, I'll give you my recipe, but you'll have to get Will shaped cutouts yourself…
For the last chapter I revolved around Anne's thoughts on everything, and I think I'm going to have to continue with that a little bit, sorry, but I'm out of ideas. Hopefully I'll show you some of the other characters this time though.
***~***
Anne couldn't tear herself away from The Revenge. Seeing that ship in such poor condition was ripping at her heart, yet she couldn't tear herself away from it. The ship was a part of her. Just like Calico and Mary. They were gone though, dead, and she could accept the fact that she could never see them again. It was painful, but she could accept it. Seeing her ship like this though… it was like… she knew that she might be able to find some way to get it back, but at the moment, there was no way that she could see.
In a moment of blind frustration, she kicked the ship wall. As she did this, something slid up a few centimeters out of her boot. She slid down on the floor and looked at her boot for a moment, suddenly remembering what the thing was.
And something clicked in her brain and a plan came to her, and she realized how pointless and stupid she was being, just sitting her in a dark, damp, disgusting cell. She pulled her dirk out of her boot and began hacking away at the rotting wooden bars with a stupid grin on her face. She felt a sense of hope again, and he brain was humming wildly with new possibilities, new plans.
***~***
Jack didn't wish to be visible yet. He could see the Revenge closer now, but for some reason, he felt uneasy about the fact that he could remember the name from somewhere, but didn't quite know why. Something told him not to make himself visible yet. So he didn't. He needed to catch up, but stay invisible, so it was a good thing that the storm was gathering. He watched the dark clouds with no alarm, felt the raw wind very strong now, stinging his face with its salty breath. They needed to catch up without being seen, and here he was, being handed the perfect solution on a silver platter, with fine china to match. Luck was on his side, as usual. The wind was blowing in the right direction, and the dark clouds would camouflage his ship. Plus, they were just far enough away. Jack felt safer knowing that if they had to get away, they could, and nobody would even know they had ever been there in the first place.
The ship was displaying curious behavior. It was like they expected an attack, the way that it was moving and the sails were working, but it was too far away to attack the Pearl, so what was it doing? Jack secured the wheel with a rope in order to better inspect this behavior.
Leaning far over the railing, he held his spyglass up against his eyes and peered through it, squinting slightly to see some sign of… There! There it was, distant on the horizon, like a speck. Another ship, perhaps merchant, perhaps pirate, perhaps navy. There was no way he could tell from this distance, but he wasn't sure whether to be alarmed or what.
The two ships could gang up on the Pearl, and he found himself happy that he wasn't quite visible yet.
But the actions of the Revenge were showing that they simply intended to attack the other ship.
Jack was presented with a decision. He could walk into the middle of a brawly, arms outstretched, (in other words, sail up to the two ships) or he could simply sail away in another direction.
Only one problem. The storm. The wind would push the Pearl toward the two ships whether he felt like brawling or not.
Jack was feeling slightly uncomfortable with the position he was in. It was like he had no choice in this, unless he dropped anchor, but with the storm so close that wouldn't be wise at this point. They weren't in a position where they could just wait out the storm, not now, so his only choice was to push toward the other two ships.
By the look of things, the ship that was farther off was doomed.
Not that he would do anything about it.
Not that he could.
***~***
Anne couldn't decide whether it was a good thing or a bad thing that there was no guard down below. After all, it just meant one more man she had to take over. But then again, she might not have been able to escape if there had been a guard down there.
She climbed the stairs slowly, grateful to be out of the murky water, especially since she saw something vile floating in it on her way out. She did it slowly so as not to make any noise… with luck, she could take the crew by surprise.
She paused at the door to collect her courage. But she never should have hesitated; the moment she did, she started thinking of all the things that could go wrong. She was crazy… she could never take over a whole ship, even if she took the captain hostage, because what if Mari were put in danger by somebody from the crew? And what was she planning on doing when the other ship attacked?
She couldn't go out there yet… she needed a better plan. She opened the door a crack to see what she had to work with.
The first thing she noticed was Mari talking to the captain. The little girl was pointing at the door, right at Anne! Anne was surprised, she almost jumped out, but she caught herself and closed the door again, deciding to wait and see if what she thought was true.
A few moments later, Mari appeared at the door. Pulling it open, she stepped through and closed it behind her.
Once the door was closed, Anne grabbed the little girl and clapped a hand over her mouth so she wouldn't yelp out of surprise. Mari relaxed after seeing it was just Anne. Anne released her.
"I was coming to get you out…" Mari whispered urgently, and Anne couldn't help but smile. Mari did have a brain on her head… she would make a fine pirate. And Anne felt a fine wave of relief wash over her, deciding once again that she had made the right choice. Now she had options again, because she could be sure that Mari was safe.
The only danger was, deciding which options to take.
Jesus, I'm sorry… I'll try and continue writing tomorrow or soon but at the moment all my family is coming over for turkey day (yeah, like I have to be thankful for a bunch of pilgrim colonists being free and going and killing and eating birds so that they can take over the people who were already living there) and I can't get away from them! Every ten seconds some relative is hanging over my shoulder, reading this, and I have to minimize it, and it's driving me crazy, so I hope you're happy I've even written THIS far. And my cousin sitting around wanting to play computer games on MY account, it get's really annoying, seriously. So sorry this… GET AWAY FROM ME PEOPLE! YES, I AM WRITING A STORY. AHHHHH!!! Sorry, my stupid family…