"Smile and nod your head, darling." Came Jack's rough whisper in my ear and his grip on my shoulder tightened.

I obeyed.

My heart was pounding loudly in my chest and my breathing was sharp and uneven.

I was pressed up against the pirate's chest, close enough to breath in his scent of salt and sweat and I couldn't help but feel like a human shield with a dozen muskets pointed at us.

Will was staring at us horror-struck. I think the expression on his face would have made me laugh under any other circumstances. But as it was I could only swallow nervously.

"Now, gents, are you going to lower your weapons or are you going to be explaining to Governor Gateau why his only daughter's blood is covering your streets." Jack's eyebrows were raised expectantly.

Please let them lower their weapons. Please let them lower their weapons…

One of the redcoats let out a derisive laugh. "She ain't no Gov'ner's daughter! She looks as though she just crawled out of a bale of hay! Miss Gateau is probably still in Haiti!"

I felt a wave of indignanty wash over me, despite my current situation and I saw Jack frown at the man.

I glanced at Gillette to see his reaction to all this and was shocked to see that he looked disconcerted. His face looked as though it had paled further, if that was possible, and I had a feeling that he wished he was not the superior officer present.

He and Jack stared at one another for a long moment, Jack's eyes were challenging Gillette's confused ones.

"Lower your weapons!" He eventually called out, breaking the eye contact first to glance at his men.

"But, Sir!" Protested the man who had spoken before. "We don't even know that Miss Gateau is even missing!" 

"Yes we do." Cut in Gillette's voice. "A report was received this morning…"

Jack grinned triumphantly as the weapons were lowered slightly.

"Well then, I'd love to stay and chat, but Miss Gateau and I have an earlier appointment.

He backed me out of the circle and the crowd parted to let us through, I saw a great number of faces look me over, some genuine with concern, others just looked curious at seeing a Governor's daughter being hostaged by a pirate.

I was beginning to regret going to find Jack Sparrow…

Jack steered me around with his tight grip on my shoulder and strode quickly towards the nearest lane. The pistol was still pressed firmly to my head.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked him in a whisper and I could have sworn he let out a small huff of amusement.

"Maybe, love, I don't quite fancy dangling from a noose tomorrow."

I was about to reply to that when a whooshing sound in the air stopped me.

I glanced around in time to register a long thin object hurtling towards Jack's head before it collided and Jack suddenly pitched forward dragging me with him.

My head hit the ground with a loud thud and I blacked out.

*** *** *** *** ***

I woke up slowly, letting my mind gradually readjust itself to consciousness.

I felt warm and quite comfortable so I felt no need to open my eyes and fully commit myself to the awake world.

I let myself postpone thinking about what had happened for as long as possible, snuggling further into the soft sheets.

Wait a minute… Sheets?

I let one of my eyes open a crack and skimmed over my surroundings taking in the luxurious furniture, the golden-framed paintings on the wall, and the delicate little daisies embroided in the white linen of the bed I was currently tucked into.

How the heck did I end up here? I thought, stifling the alarm that began to surge through me.

Ok. Strange room, no idea how I got here, but hey, it didn't look as though I was in prison, right?

A knock sounded to my right and I opened my other eye and turned to see a cream coloured door swing open to reveal a plain looking girl.

By her simple attire and the fancy feel this place had I guessed she was a maid.

Upon seeing me awake a smile crossed her face and she came a few steps closer before giving me a low curtsy.

I raised an eyebrow at the gesture but the girl appeared not to see it.

"Good evening, Miss. It's good to see you awake at last, everyone was worried dreadful…" She said in a sweet, common accented voice.

I pushed myself up into a sitting position, and groaned as my head ached at the movement.

"Where am I?" I asked for the third time that day, or was it a different day by now? How long had I been out?

She smiled warmly. "You're at Governor Swann's residence." She moved forward and I noticed she was carrying a deep blue dress in her arms. "I expect you are hungry? Dinner is to be served shortly, I'm here to help you dress."

I made myself smile. "Thankyou, I am hungry… How long have I been asleep?"

"Only a few hours, but I swear, you sleep like death itself."

I pulled back the covers and saw that my dress had been changed to a light nightshift. Probably they burnt the dress, I thought with a slight smile, remembering how dirty it had been. My hand had been properly bandaged also, I noticed.

I slid my feet shakily to the floor and stood up, wavering for a moment, but when I did not fall over I stepped towards the maid.

She handed me a plain white dress and pointed me towards a dressing screen.

"Put this on and I'll help you with the blue one." She said kindly.

I crossed the room and slipped behind the screen before pulling the nightgown off over my head and replacing it with the underdress.

I stepped out and the maid helped me into the much fancier second dress.

For a moment I wondered why I had a maid assigned to attend me, then my mind spat up images of what had happened before my head had hit the ground and I had passed out. The pirate had named me to be Miss Gateau. A governor's daughter. That was why I was in Governor Swann's house and was being presented with fine clothes to wear.

Was he telling the truth? Was I Ebony Gateau? I was disappointed to find that I still could not remember, although, I had recognised Sparrow, so maybe he would know…

I frowned as I remembered the way the pirate had dug his hand into my shoulder as he had held the gun to my head. I hadn't noticed any bruise when I was changing, but it felt tender.

Bloody pirates…

The maid began to tighten the strings on the back of the dress and I sucked in a breath and clenched my left fist.

I glanced at my reflection in a mirror opposite me and was startled to see how pale my face looked. Probably from the oxygen depriving qualities of this dress, I thought bitterly as the maid gave it another yank.

My cheeks were usually a bright pink colour, and although they still had a rose tinge, they looked splotchy and wan. My black hair was layered at the front and fell to my waist in waves. My eyes were dark green and they glinted when my head jerked thanks to another tug at the strings.

Relief flooded through me when I saw the maid tie them in the mirror.

"All done." She said stepping away, smiling.

"Thank God…" I muttered in a low voice.

The maid did not hear me but ushered me over to a chair next to a dresser and picked up a brush.

"I'll just do it simply tonight, miss, then you can go down and have dinner." She said as she started to brush out the tangles.

I nodded absentmindedly.

"What's your name?" I asked, realising the girl had not mentioned it.

"Estrella Brown, miss."

I started at this. "Is it your father who owns the smithy near the harbour?"

"Yes." Estrella sounded astonished. "How do you know him?"

"I… met him this morning." I suppose you could call the five minute period in which he was sober a meeting…

 "If you don't mind me asking, miss, would you mind telling me if he was alright? Only he was meant to stop by this afternoon and he didn't…"

I felt a wave of concern for the girl. It must be hard having a drunk for a father, he was probably still passed out on his chair.

"He was probably… asleep."  I said to her lamely. "He had a bit to drink this morning, from what I saw."

"Oh dear." Came the exasperated voice of the maid. "Maybe I should go and see him tonight then… This isn't the first time he has done this."

I smiled wanly. That I could believe.

Estrella stepped away from me, my hair now done in an annoying poofy manner, and sighed.

"I'm sorry, miss. You're probably not interested in the problems of my father. We'd best get you down to dinner."

I nodded as she led me out of the room and down a hall to a large, sweeping staircase.

The house followed suit with the room I had woken up in. It almost gave off an air of snottiness, I felt as though to touch the white marbled banister as I walked down the stairs into the foyer would leave a trail of dirt.

A man-servant met me at the bottom of the stairs with a low bow and a "Miss Gateau."

Undecided as I was about this title, I said nothing in reply, just smiled politely.

He led me through a hall and ushered me into a long room with a highly polished table with three places set at the far end.

Two of those places were filled, the place at the head of the table occupied by a rather large man with a white wig giving him obviously fake, long curls. His face looked serious at the moment but the laugh lines around his mouth gave me the impression he was a kind person. His cheeks had a red tinge to them and I could see a large glass half-filled with red wine set before him. I presumed this was Governor Swann.

The other person at the table was a girl, my age. This must be Will's Miss Swann, and I studied the woman who he had acted so defensive of curiously. She looked similar to the Governor with fine features and hair done up in a very puffed-up style which added at least 10 cm to her height.

Her expression changed from uninterested to warm in an instant when she heard us enter, obviously glad of a distraction from whatever lecture she had been receiving, and she stood up.

Her father stood up beside her and he gave me a cordial smile.

The servant beside me stepped forward slightly.

"Governor Swann, Miss Swann, may I present Miss Gateau."

The infamous Miss Swann smiled. "Please, call me Elizabeth."

Oh dear. What if they expected me to remember something? What if they don't think I am Miss Gateau? What if I am not? After all, I can't remember.

The Governor smiled warmly and gestured at the seat beside him, opposite Miss Swann and I tentatively sat down in it.

"It must have been a very stressful few days for you, my dear," He started in a paternal manner as he and his daughter took their seats once more. "But you should relax, a message has been sent to your father in Haiti and a passage has been arranged for you on our fastest ship, for tomorrow morning."

"Um... thank-you, sir," I started awkwedly, still feeling uneasy. "But, my memory is well… quite hazy at the moment…"

"Not surprising after all you've been through." Cut in the smiling Governor.

"Yeah… but, I can't remember who I am or anything, what if I'm not Miss Gateau…?"

"You fit the physical description almost perfectly, my dear. And it was rumoured that you were kidnapped by pirates, and a pirate who named you as Miss Gateau…"

I still had doubts.

"I can remember my name as Ebony… Is that what Miss Gateau's name is?" I asked him.

"Well… ah, no." He paused. "But it is possible that Ebony was an adopted play-name, on account of your hair. It doesn't sound like an actual given name."

"I suppose…"

"Governor Gateau will surely be able to tell you for certain, in any case." Jumped in Miss Swann, who had been silent up until now. "Or even Captain Jaques." She said this with a hint of irony and I frowned.

"Who is Captain Jaques?" I asked nervously.

She slightly raised an eyebrow. "Your fiancé, of course."

I stared at her with an incredulous look on my face. "Fiancé?"  My voice came out barely louder than a whisper.

Governor Swann smiled. "There, see?" He said reassuringly, seemingly not hearing my reply to Miss Swann's statement. "Soon you will be home and sure of whom you are."

I was not reassured. How could I just not remember something like getting married? And would I still be expected to get married? If I was Miss Gateau, even if I did not know the groom?

With a sinking feeling I realised that this seemed the sort of place where that would not be a problem. Probably happened all the time. And I as the Governor's daughter, would be made to go through with it.

Dinner came and I was able to poke at the food on my plate with the tiny, delicate cutlery for only a little while before I began to feel woozy.

I apologised and excused myself before making my way up to the room I had woken up in and going back to bed.

I could not be bothered calling the maid to undo the dress so I simply kept it on.

My head was aching and I fell into a light sleep.

I woke up suddenly with a feeling of foreboding. My palms were clammy and I rubbed them on the sheets.

The room was lit by moonlight that shone through the gauzy curtains, then the light disappeared, the clouds had obviously covered up the moon's bright face.

The silence of the house was almost ominous.

I swung my feet to the floor and stood up, hoping my apprehension was all in my imagination. I walked towards the window that looked out over the town and the harbour, trying to reassure myself of it's calmness as I stared out over it.

A small flash of light from one of the ships caught my eye and a moment later I heard a loud boom.

What in the name of hell was that!? Any attempt to relax my senses was shattered and the butterflies in my stomach seemed to grow to ten times their size and began throwing themselves against the inside of my stomach.

I could see a number of small boats rowing away from the shore and began to panic. It couldn't be…

For some strange, ironic reason, unknown to me, the scene seemed slightly familiar.

I could hear distant screams coming from the town and turned hastily away from the window, my heart beating heavily against my chest.

I ran out into the hall and instinctively flung open the door to the room next to me.

Elizabeth was also standing before the window staring out, hair messed up and wearing a dressing gown over. Her fingers were tightly clenched around the windowsill.

She turned when she heard me enter and I saw a horrified expression on her face.

"What's happening?" I asked her in a panicked voice, coming up to stand beside her at the window.

Icy cold fear seemed to slide down my spine as I looked down and saw the advancement of a group of savage looking men through the front gate.

"Who are they!?" I cried to Elizabeth.

Her face was white and looked horrified.

"Pirates."

A loud knock echoed on the front door and Elizabeth rushed out of the room, pushing past me, dressing gown flowing behind her.

I followed her.

She raced to the top of the stairs and I saw her eyes fall on something in the hall below.

I glanced down and saw a butler moving to open the door.

Elizabeth flung out a hand.

"Don't!"  She screamed, but the butler had already pulled it open.

There was a moment's silence, then;

"Hello, chump."

The sound of a pistol being fired burst out and the butler fell backwards, dead.

I heard a scream but was not sure whether it came from my mouth or Elizabeth's.

Pirates were swarming through the door like a pack of hungry wolves.

I was rooted to my spot, absolutely terrified.

I had a sudden thought of Jack. Maybe he wasn't so safely locked in prison, after all…
One of the pirates pointed up to where we were standing. "Up there!"

"Girls!" Came the cry of another.

I felt someone grabbing my arm and pulling me away from the violent advancement of the pirates, it was Elizabeth.

A feeling of déjà vu hit me as we scrambled into Elizabeth's room and locked the door behind us, almost collapsing against it.

I glanced at Elizabeth.

Her breath was coming in heavy bouts, making her chest rise and fall visibly.

A round shaped object glinted in the moonlight from it's chain around her neck and suddenly, I realised.

"They're after the medallion!" I almost screamed at her.

She looked at me as though I was mad but my mind was racing, full of images from god knows where.

A hand holding a shining medallion marked with a skull.

A black, ghostly looking ship retreating into the mists.

A skeletal hand weaving the medallion through it's bony fingers insolently.

"The gold…" I said, grabbing Elizabeth's shoulders with my hands and shaking her slightly to make her lose that lost look on her face. "It called them, now they want it back!"

Elizabeth wrenched the medallion away from her neck and held it out in her hand, starring at it horrified.

She looked up and stared at me, her blue eyes boring into my green ones. "How do you know that?" She almost whispered.

I shook my head, unable to answer.

With a shaking hand I took the medallion from her and held it up before my eyes, studying the skull design.

How did I know this?

A loud crash made us both jump and the door burst open to reveal two pirates, one short with messy hair and a vicious grin, and the other tall with a crazed but unintelligent look in his eyes.

Without losing a beat, Elizabeth grabbed a bed warmer and slammed it into the nose of the short pirate.

He fell aside and the second pirate leapt forward and grabbed my arm.

"Gotcha!"

I let out a cry and jerked my knee up so that it collided with a rather sensitive part of the male anatomy at the same time as Elizabeth released the burning coals from the bed warmer onto the pirates head.

He let out a howl and doubled over, trying frantically to brush the coals out of his hair.

Elizabeth and I bolted past them and headed for the stairs, my fist was clenched around the golden medallion in my good hand.

I could hear the pirates pathetic cries of "It's hot! It's on me!" behind us, then the other growled, "Come one!"

Chaos ruled all around us, the pirates seemed to be literally ripping the house to shreds.

We avoided them as we dashed down the marble staircase but halfway down our pursuers caught up with us.

The flash of a nearby cannon firing distracted the pirates and Elizabeth and I jumped hastily out of the way as the ball collided with one of the attacking pirates.

There was a loud crack and I glanced up to see the chandelier shudder for a moment before falling with a cloud of plaster.

I grabbed Elizabeth's arm and half-dragged her back up the stairs away from the anarchy.

We ran down a hall and burst through a door into another dining room.

Elizabeth quickly shoved a candlestick through the handles and headed for a sword display above the mantelpiece.

It came as no surprise to me when the sword did not come free when she yanked it.

"Quickly, we have to get out of here!" I ordered.

I glanced around the room and spotted the open window.

In a heartbeat, I was over to it and had one leg out side before I realised that –hey!- we were on the bloody second floor!

A bang on the door to the room was heard and Elizabeth and I glanced at each other, our faces mirroring our terror.

Elizabeth swept over to a tall cupboard and hid inside it while I pulled the other leg over the window sill.

I glanced down slightly and suddenly felt very lightheaded. I had never been any good with heights.

Another bang sounded on the door and pushed by fear I put the chain of the medallion through my teeth and lowered myself down so that I was clinging to the windowsill with only the tips of my fingers.

I heard the door of the room burst open and slam against the wall and my heart rate suddenly tripled.

I heard the sound of two heavy pairs of footsteps slowly making their way into the room.

There was silence for a moment and I felt sure that they would hear my loud heartbeat.

"We know your here, poppets…" Came a voice. The same voice that had shot the butler.

The second pirate let out a deranged chuckle. "Poppets…"

"Come out and we promise we won't hurt you…"

Yeah, bloody, right.

"We will find you, Poppets. You've got something of ours and it calls to us. The gold calls to us…"

Oh my bloody God, how the fuck had I known that.

With a sudden feeling of panic, I suddenly realised that it was I who now had the gold. Would it call to them?

Oh God, I hope not…

I clenched my eyes shut and waited with a baited breath for the ugly face of the pirate to suddenly poke out of the window and look down on me.

"'Ello Poppet."

My eyes burst open at the same time as I heard a voice quickly spurt out: "Parley!"

They had found Elizabeth!

"What?" Came the voice of the second pirate.

"Parley." Elizabeth repeated boldly. "I invoke the right of parley. According to the code of the brethren, set down by the pirates Morgan and Bartholomew , you have to take me to your Captain."

"I know the code!" Came the annoyed voice of the first pirate.

"If an adversary demands parley you can do them no harm until the parley is complete." That was Elizabeth.

"To blazes with the code!"

"She wants to be taken to the captain…" Said the first pirate. "And she'll go without a fuss. We must honour the code."

Oh no, Elizabeth. What on earth are you doing?

I listened anxiously as three pairs of feet left the room.

My hands were sweaty and I felt my grip slipping on the sill.

With a start I realised something was wrong. Very wrong.

I had the medallion.

Elizabeth was being taken by the pirates to their ship, where they would expect her to have it.

For a moment I wondered how I knew this, then I realised I did not have time to question it.

I had to help Elizabeth.

There was another loud boom of a cannon firing and the house gave a shudder.

My fingers slipped off the edge of the window and I fell.

*** *** *** *** ***

A/N:

Mwa Ha Ha!

T'is fun playing with the plot. =D

Sorry it took so long to get this up… It was surprisingly hard to write, however… I expect the next few chapters will be filled with Jack so they should get written faster. Probably. Maybe. …Actually it depends o how much homework I get. But I shall try. 0.~

So tell me, what did you think of this chapter? Honestly? (And by honestly I mean constructive stuff. Not flames.)

"Ahem…":

A very big thankyou and a hug for all my reviewers so far…

Elvish-dream: Thanks for your advice and I'm really glad you enjoyed it! I am from Melbourne, Victoria and am 15 years old in year 10. Thankyou for your review!

Shadowcat: Johnny would be more polite, but he probably wouldn't have that certain… Jackness that Jack has… *grins*

Bluesky: …not to mention damn cute!

Umbriviel: Voila! I am from Melbourne, where abouts in NSW are you from?

Maat: Thankyou! Here is the more.

Evil-angel-666: I'm glad you like it!

Elfgirl: Thankyou for reviewing… you will have to wait and see what happens.

Completeopposites: I'm glad you are enjoying it!

PeleAmika: Good to see I have Jack in-character. I shall try to keep it up!

Review! (It's the little button in the bottom left…)

Au revoir!