A/N That last chapter was fun to write. I don't know what I'm going to do with this one but I have all the time in the world so I'll think of something.
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Hope counted the coins lying on the table in front of her and whistled. My, my, Sophie had been a busy girl. She wondered how much Jack had lost. It couldn't have been this much. A brown skinned woman walked into the room and sat across from her at the table.
"Anamaria." The woman said, holding out her hand.
"Captain Hope." Hope said, shaking the hand extended to her.
"Yes, I know." Anamaria said, "Captain Sparrow told the whole crew about you and your ship. I'm very sorry. I lost my ship too." Anamaria sent a murderous glare in the general direction of the helm (where of course, Jack was standing, as usual.)
After that, the two women were silent. What could they say to each other? Neither was the type to trust easily. Both trusted Jack, but both were still wary of him.
Hope finally got up from the table and walked out on deck to where Jack was standing at the helm, humming 'A Pirates Life for Me,' his back to her.
Hope grinned as an idea came to her.
Being as quiet as she could, she crept closer to him, careful not to be any louder than his humming. Suddenly he stopped midwhistle and seemed to listen for her. She froze.
He started to whistle again and she relaxed. Finally she was right behind him; she pulled her dagger off her belt, meaning to surprise him.
"Hello, Hope." He said, and she sighed.
"It's Captain, you know." She corrected, and touched one of the knobs on the helm, opening her mouth to ask a question. He stopped her before she could say anything, and pulled her hand off the helm, giving her a warning look. She glared at him but asked her question anyway.
"How much money did Sophie steal from you?"
"I think it was about five pounds."
"That's all?" Hope asked.
"What, did you figure I would risk having more than five pounds stolen from me at one time? I keep more on the Pearl." He said with a bit of an irritated tone, and then suddenly he clutched the wheel tighter as a big gust of wind rocked the ship. From Jack's cabin came the noise of little objects hitting the floor.
"The money!" Hope said, and spun around, going back into his cabin where the money had been laid on the table. She got there just in time to see the coins roll through a little hole at the bottom of the wall and drop down into the hold. She cursed and turned around, going back out on deck and then downstairs to the hold.
And then she knew. The money had fallen through the hole, and down into the…
Brig.
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Sophie was sitting in her cell, mindlessly drawing marks on the wall for every second that went by. She knew, of course, that the custom was to draw one mark for every day… but after she drew one mark, that got sort of boring, so she started counting seconds, and that was much more entertaining. At least if she was counting, she wouldn't be focused on the dirty water sloshing on the floor of the brig.
And that was when it hit her. Literally. All of her money fell onto her head, and for once she wasn't glad that there was so much. But she was overjoyed that she had her money back.
And the money was falling in the disgusting water with little plunks.
She found herself scrunching up her nose just to reach into the water, but then the next second the boat rocked and all the water was going to the other side of the boat… and the money with it.
Then the boat rocked back and the water was all on her side again, and she frantically tried to grab her coins as they went by… but then the boat rocked again and she waited for the money to come back. This went on for quite some time with no success, until she heard footsteps and somebody came down.
"Hello, Sophie."
"Hello," Sophie said, not really paying any attention. She was more focused on catching the money as it went by. Hope walked right up next to the bars and rapped them impatiently.
"Sophie, why did you tell my mother what I was planning all those years ago?"
Sophie looked up, for the moment not focused on her money. Or perhaps she was always focused on money… "She paid me." Sophie answered simply.
"Sophie! You were my best friend! But you would screw me over for just a little bit of money?"
Sophie stood up so she was looking down on Hope instead of up. "Hope, with the money my mother was getting from all the cheap customers, she had barely enough for herself, much less for me. I had to take what I was given, and when offered something, how can you expect me to pass that up? When you steal things for a living, it gets to a point where you forget what a gift is."
Hope refused to let the point go so quickly. "You were supposed to be my friend! I trusted you."
"Well you shouldn't have." Sophie said, with a decided tone, as if she was finished with the conversation. She sat down in the cell again and refused to offer responses to anything Hope said.
And meanwhile, Hope was getting more and more irritated. She looked at Sophie and then at the door, as if willing herself to leave the room… but then she looked at the keys to the cell and made up her mind.
She grabbed the keys and quickly went to Sophie's cell, fumbling with the lock for a moment. Sophie sat up and looked alarmed.
"What are you doing?" She asked.
"Killing you." Hope said calmly, finally unlocking the door. But when she tried to open it… it wouldn't come open. She looked at Sophie… Sophie had the toe of her boot curled under the bar, keeping it from moving. Sophie's face was serious as she stared at Hope.
Hope yanked on the door, but it didn't come open. Finally, she gave up. But Sophie didn't. Her foot stayed in that place, so there was no chance that Hope would be able to surprise her. Clearly Hope was not strong enough to open the door with Sophie's foot in the way.
Hope groaned and stomped up the stairs. "JACK! HELP ME OPEN THE DOOR!" She called over the deck, but Jack wasn't at the helm. She went into his cabin to find him.
Meanwhile, Sophie stood up in her cell. She inspected the lock which had been opened, and then pushed the door open and stepped out, grinning. Now… where to hide? It would have to be a place where nobody would find her.
On the other hand, the idea that Hope was trying to kill her was not a friendly concept. She picked up the keys off the floor and locked herself inside the cell, jingling the keys in one hand and grinning at her own twisted cleverness. Now the only person who could open this cell would be herself.
.