A/N: After Anaknusan dedicated her last chapter to me in her fic, I was so overcome with warm, fuzzy feelings that I thought that I should return the gesture. I was going to dedicate this chapter solely to her, but then my inner nagging voice said that I had other very loyal followers and I should thank them too. So I will.

This chapter is dedicated to: Anaknusan, Random Character and, Dreamgirl21147.

Dreamgirl21147: You have been with this story since chapter three and have reviewed faithfully ever since. Thank you so very much, you're an absolute sweetheart.

Random Character: My dear, half crazy friend from real life. How could I not dedicate a chapter to you? (Even though you are my friend, and are therefore obligated to review my stories :P.) I could have just ignored you I suppose, but I didn't! Doesn't that make you feel special? Although they may not serve any practical purpose, your rambling reviews always put a laugh in my day. :Glomps: Have a cookie. :Hands you a virtual cookie:

Anaknusan: My faraway friend from…erm…wherever it is you live! I always look forward to reading your reviews, they never fail to boost my confidence as a writer. I know I've said this already but the dedication you gave me in your story was a rainbow in an otherwise dreary and depressing week. Not to mention the fact that I can always count on finding a great rambling review in my inbox from you every time I update. Thanks a bunch for being my fanfiction buddy . Wow, I'm getting all sappy :S this is very un-me. Le sigh. Alas, that's what happens when I spend the greater part of my afternoon listening to Beatles music. I'll try to cut this short. Take care, Nakky, I hope to hear from you soon.

Disclaimer: (Insert generic and/or humourous disclaimer here.)

Chapter 13

It All Falls Apart

Dawn in the Caribbean is one of the most awe-inspiring visions that Mother Nature can create. One can't even try to compare it to sunrise in England, where muted light merely manages to drag itself between the clouds to collapse with exhaustion on the landscape. In the tropics it is an almost blinding symphony of colour and triumphant glory when the newborn sun overcomes the edge of the horizon and sends forth orange rays to dance on a glittering sea. A jeweled sea, the one treasure that no true pirate can ever resist. All the world seems filled with hope and promise at that moment, when there is only the rebirth of life and hope. It inspires the mind and soothes the troubled soul.

Pity no one was awake to see it.

An hour later, Sam groaned as consciousness pounded its way once again into her skull. Finn, eternally enthusiastic, was shaking her sister vigorously out of her short lived slumber. The two of them had been awake for the better part of the night and had spent the time near the captain's cabin to ensure that their parents didn't kill each other. So far things had seemed promising, there had been a lot of laughter coming from inside, and no corpses were to be found as far as Sam could surmise, as she looked blearily around her.

Sleeping on a pile of ropes has to be the worst way of spending the night, the girl thought as she rubbed her aching back. It was still fairly early, but already the ship was bustling with activity. The entire crew seemed on edge as they worked, as though they could sense some hidden threat coming from the island, despite its peaceful appearance. Even Sam, her mind addled from her rude awakening could feel a spark of uneasiness growing in her belly.

Forcing her complaining muscles into some semblance of action, the pirate's daughter rolled off of her rope pile and onto the deck. She lingered there, pondering going back to sleep right on the boards until Cotton stepped on her arm as he passed by. With a groan and a half-hearted curse, Sam struggled to her feet, and moved to lean her elbows on the railing. She stared at the island, studying it intently. It had been only a month or two since she'd seen it last. There was nothing extraordinary about it; just small rocky cliffs, sand and palm trees. Perfectly ordinary. And yet, no matter how she looked at it, all Sam could see was the burning ship of her uncle, the screams of his crew, and her mother's stricken face as she was forced to flee. Sam and Finn were pirate's daughters, well used to battles and danger, but that time had been different. There had been no sense of adventure then, there had been no victory. They had lost.

Still half-asleep, Jack stretched languidly and reached out beside him. The bed was warm but empty. That was odd. It hadn't been empty last night, he knew that much. Reluctantly, the pirate blinked his eyes open. The cabin was shrouded in a pale gloom, illuminated only by a thin stream of sunlight pouring in between the half drawn curtains. Standing near the desk was Storm, some of her braids had come undone and she was only half dressed. She was facing him, but her head was bowed as she buckled her wide belt around her waist and she didn't notice that he was awake.

"Just one night…that's all we have."

She glanced up quickly and started to pull back her hair when Jack caught her gaze. She froze, her expression unreadable. For a moment, she opened her mouth and seemed about to say something, but no words came.

"Who knows what tomorrow will bring?"

Jack waited, propping himself up on one elbow to better regard Storm. It was obvious she hadn't wanted him to see her leave. He grinned roguishly at her but she said nothing. After a few long heartbeats she flashed him a tight smile and turned away, reaching for her shirt.

Memories of her arms around him, of kissing her fiercely sprang unbidden to his mind. It had been just like that first time, during that gale on their first ship under the stairs. When they had been so sure they were going to die, but they were young and free and felt they could conquer anything. But this time it was so different…There had been a sharp pang of desperation, the pain known only to lovers who know that there is no future.

There was no love between them now, only unfulfilled and bitter longing.

"Get up," Storm ordered curtly, still looking away, "Dawn has already passed. There's miles to go before we rest."

Jack smiled at her back. "Pity we missed our chance to rest last night, eh?"

Unable to resist the playful banter, Storm replied dryly, "We were too busy for that, were we not?"

"Care to spar with me again, love?"

At that comment, the she-pirate deigned to cast him a dirty look. "No time for that, you lecher. Rouse yer lazy arse."

Content in his teasing, Jack leaned back in bed and winked back at her. "Maybe you should come get me arse for me."

Storm's eyes narrowed dangerously and paused in her buttoning of her vest, "Very well." She strode towards him and had just begun to aim a strike at a particularly tender part of his anatomy when Jack caught on and scurried out of her reach.

She rolled her eyes and returned her attention to dressing. She had just buckled on her rapier when she gasped, feeling her inconvenient lover's kiss on her neck. Storm whirled around, facing Jack down, the warning in her eyes acting as a shield to his advances.

"Now is not the time," she said with an edge to her voice.

"When did we ever let that stop us?" replied Jack.

Unable to hold back, their lips met again in a battle for control. They clutched at each other, the fire of the previous night rekindling itself.

Even with their flesh touching, they were still so far away, both in love with nothing but a faded memory.

They sprang apart like guilty children, suddenly remembering the promise they had made last night that they had already broken.

No more. Just one night.

Storm looked down and pushed her hair back. "Get dressed," she said.

Never again. The past is dead.

Clouds had long since covered up the sun by midday, something the pirates were deeply grateful for. Cutting through tropical undergrowth during the hottest part of the day was not a favourable pastime by their standards, whatever the circumstances.

The landing party was small; Jack and Storm were there, of course, along with Gibbs, Cotton, Anamaria and a few of the stronger new recruits. Somehow, through their vast powers of manipulation, Finn and Sam had managed to smuggle themselves ashore as well. At first they had treated it light-heartedly as some grand adventure, but the pinched, nervous faces of the adults around them and their own trepidation soon put a damper on their spirits.

For the most part, the group traveled wordlessly. The only sounds between them were the swish of their blades cutting a path through the foliage and the constant thud of their boots as they marched. Jack kept a silly grin on his face, and on occasion would make some quip or comment to Gibbs or Storm, but despite his carefree façade, he subtly kept one hand near his sword. Storm made no effort to answer his attempts to engage her in conversation. Her eyes were as clouded as the sky.

Suddenly, after a moment of exchanging a word with one of the crew, Gibbs stopped walking and turned to Jack.

"This is a fruitless endeavor, Cap'n. We've been goin' in circles!"

Jack bounded on a few paces ahead and examined the lay of the land. He frowned. Jack didn't trust land, it didn't move enough for his liking. He found it very easy to get lost on. The sea on the other hand, now there was a piece of geography you could trust. The horizon wasn't something that lied to you. You could always see it, it was always there. The land liked to play tricks on you. Which is what it was doing to Jack at that moment. As soon as Gibbs had said his piece, Jack felt the unpleasant squirmy sensation he got when he found out he was wrong about something important. Now that he thought about it, he was sure he'd been here before…

"Oi, Da, Mumsy!" called out one of his daughters.

The two pirates turned to look at Finn and Sam, who were staring intently at the bark on a palm tree. As Jack got closer, he saw that there were markings scratched there into the wood. It was a simple symbol, if totally meaningless to him. It was a circle, a bit wobbly but recognizable, with a vertical line struck through it. Storm reached out and lightly ran her fingers over the scratchings.

"He was here," she whispered.

"Who? James?" asked Jack.

Storm nodded, still entranced by the sign left by her brother. "James and meself made up this code when we were littl'uns. We would leave them all over town as messages to each other…"

"What does this one mean?"

"Nothing too special; just that he was here. I s'pose he didn't have time to carve anythin' else…"

Storm's gaze flickered downwards. She paused and pushed away an overgrown fern that was covering the base of the palm tree. There, a few inches underneath the circle was an arrow, pointing roughly north-west.

"Even I know what that means," said Jack.

"That way!" cried Storm, already on her feet.

Jack sighed. "Always interrupting," he said mock-mournfully, "Don't know where she got her manners."

With that, he chased after her, his twin daughters only paces behind him.

They ran through the undergrowth, heedless of the branches that slapped against their skin. Sam stumbled more than once, she was less nimble at avoiding the roots than her sister, but Finn was there to make sure she didn't fall. Jack was panting, he may have been fairly young, but years of repeated drunken debauchery had somewhat dulled his stamina, and in truth he needed the incentive of the whole British Navy on his heels to keep him going over long distances.

At last Jack saw that Storm had stopped running. Grateful for the rest he loped towards her, a wry comment on his lips but stopped short when he saw her posture. She was standing ramrod straight, her head tilted up with her hands clenched in fists at her sides. She was shaking. Jack saw what she looking at just as Sam and Finn entered the clearing.

"Don't look!" he cried to them. The pirate whirled on his daughters and covered their eyes. Despite their protests, he turned them physically around. "Don't look up, just go back, go back to the others…"

All this time, Storm hadn't moved.

By then, the crew had arrived. They too came with questions already dying on their lips. They stopped and stared. Finn and Sam managed to wriggle out of Jack's grasp and turned to see what the fuss was about. They only got a glimpse when Anamaria, some long-dead maternal instinct resurfacing, pulled them to her and covered their eyes, shielding them from the grim truth hanging from the trees.

For a long time, no one seemed to know what to do. Then Jack, seeing it as his duty as Captain, removed his tricorn hat, put it reverently over his heart and gave a pirate salute to the gently swaying corpse of Captain James Matthew O'Connor.

"Cut him down!"

This broken cry from Storm cut through the air and broke the spell surrounding the clearing. Jack and the crew managed to wrench their eyes away from James' body to look at his sister. She was frighteningly calm, still stretched taut as a bowstring but her face betrayed no grief, no anger. One or two pirates fumbled clumsily for their blades but hesitated, unsure of how to proceed. Finn disengaged herself from Anamaria's grasp and stepped forward as if in a dream. Sam grabbed at her sister's hand, but Finn pushed her away, her eyes locked on James.

"Uncle Jim?" she said, so softly and terrible with a child's disbelief that it echoed in everyone's ears.

Her mother could take the tension no longer. She drew her rapier and, with a yell, slammed it into the rope holding her dead brother with such a force that it buried itself in the tree behind it. As the body fell to the ground, Storm turned to her stricken daughter and embraced her tightly. She took all the pain into herself and hid it, as only a captain can. Even so far away from her own crew she had to be strong. For such is the burden of all leaders.

"Sir?"

Jack felt a sharp tug on his sleeve and looked around. It was Anamaria, staring at him with a grim expression.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Cap'n, how long has Storm been lookin' fer her brother?"

Jack thought. "Over three months now…" he said slowly.

"You see as well as I do then," she glanced around at the corpse and lowered her voice, "He's not far enough along yet."

Jack too looked over. James' skin was palely blue. His skin was slightly bloated, but he was still far too intact, too whole. He hadn't started to truly rot and no bird or beast had started to scavenge him yet. He couldn't have died more than a day or two before…

"It's a trap!" yelled the pirate captain, seconds before a musket ball lodged itself in the wood inches from Gibbs' ear.

"Take cover!" screamed the grizzled first mate, doing the same for himself.

In seconds there was chaos.

For several minutes, all that could be heard was the cracking of muskets and the cries of rage and pain when the shots struck flesh. Weapons practically flew to pirates' hands as they rolled into defensible positions. Sam rushed to her sister's side. The twins clasped each others hands tightly, daggers held in their free ones. They fell into a crouch behind their mother just as waves of privateers crashed their way through the trees.

Storm wasn't a brilliant fighter, having learned later on in her life, but she was fierce and the need to protect her children gave strength to her limbs. With an almost feral snarl she hacked at her enemies with abandon.

Jack wasted no time in dueling with his opponents; he killed and wounded them as quickly as his heart beat within his chest. He jumped back as he pulled his sword out of the side of a shrieking privateer and heard a clang behind him. Jack turned in time to see a very surprised looking privateer loosely pointing their blade at his throat. He made no move to stab Jack but merely blinked, looked down at the rapidly growing red spot over his heart and fell unceremoniously to the ground, his face still frozen in a mask of perplexity. Jack looked past where the unlucky man had been standing and saw Cotton reloading his pistol. The mute pirate glanced over and, meeting Jack's gaze, gave his captain a curt nod. Jack grinned and returned it. With a joyful whoop he rejoined the fray.

With the excitement and adrenalin of battle, Finn had momentarily forgotten the horror of seeing her dead uncle. She laughed as she and Sam spun and twisted, linked hand in hand. They used their small size and speed to their advantage, by ducking under the swings of their slower enemies, slipping around behind and either hamstringing them or knocking them unconscious. As one privateer ran by (ignoring the two children for more equal opponents) the butt of his musket hit Sam in the back of her head. Jarred by the blow, the girl swayed and let go of Finn's hand. In the madness that was the impromptu battlefield, the two sisters became separated. Sam stumbled a few paces, knocked aside a few times by combatants, until at last she came to lean against a palm tree. She clutched the welt on her head and slid to the ground.

"Sam!" yelled Finn.

Suddenly frustrated with the press of bodies all around her, Finn O'Connor struggled to keep her gaze locked on Sam's slumped form as she fought her way through the crowd. Out of the corner of her eye Finn saw Anamaria take a musket ball in her shoulder. The she-pirate fell to one knee, gritting her teeth against the pain as she proudly fought against the inexorable press of foes coming at her from all sides. Without thinking about it, Finn drew a throwing knife from one of her many hidden pouches and let it fly. Her aim wasn't the best, her missile didn't hit any vitals, but it proved enough of a distraction for Ana to get back on her feet.

Sam pulled herself to her feet. She still felt groggy, but at least the world had sorted itself back into semi-coherent shapes. Holding her dagger to her chest like a shield, she glanced around for some sign of Finn. She saw her, seconds before she saw the danger. One of the privateers had lit a small explosive and had thrown it not feet away from where Finn was standing. Uncaring of the pain in her skull, Sam pushed her way through the fray and threw herself at her sister.

Several things happened at once.

Sam and Finn tumbled to the ground together, Sam shielding her twin sister with her body. Their mother, Storm, also caught sight of the danger. The fear that chilled her at seeing her daughters in that danger was more than enough to distract her from the enemies she was fighting. She was about to leave her current opponent to protect her children when she felt a sharp crack to the back of her neck, and all was blackness. Jack saw her fall, but was too far away to help her. He started to cut his way through the sea of bodies towards her, calling her name…

There was an explosion.

For a split-second, there was silence.

And then the sound of the screams, the gunshots and steel ringing on steel filtered back into Finn's confused ears. She lay still, dimly aware that something heavy was on top of her. Whatever it was, it felt warm and-strangely-disconcertingly still. Finn opened her eyes and gasped sharply. It was Sam. Finn couldn't see her face, but there were red spots on her shirt and she was limp. Finn felt her blood run cold. With a heave, she rolled over, knocking her sister off in the process. Finn knelt beside her, taking in her sister's wounds with disbelief. Sam's whole left side was covered in blood and Finn couldn't tell where it was coming from. Her eyes were closed, and she looked dreadfully pale.

"Sam?"

Finn didn't even realize she was sobbing as she ripped her bandana off her head. She bunched up the faded blue cloth and after pulling up her twin's shirt a little; she began wiping away at the blood, until her vision became so blurry with tears that she couldn't see her sister anymore.

Jack raced through the maze of bright greens and yellows. His heart was beating in his throat, and he had no idea where he was going. All he did was follow the sounds of the privateers crashing through before him. Their progress was slowed by having to carry the unconscious Storm, but they'd had a head start, and it was all Jack could do to catch up with them. Jack didn't really think about what he was feeling as he ran. He was scared, though he would never admit it. He was scared for Storm. He knew what they would do to her; he didn't have to guess after seeing James' body. Maybe she would be granted a trial but the end result would be the same. And that thought hurt him. Storm may not have been a serious love of his, she may not have even been really a friend anymore to him, but she was a part of his past, as real as Tortuga, as real as old Bootstrap. Perhaps Jack didn't love her, but he didn't want to lose her.

Abruptly, the line of trees ended, revealing a shining beach marred with Storm's blood. She had awakened, slightly, and was vainly trying to break free. But she was weakened and weaponless against an entire crew of armed sailors. It was not long before they overpowered her, and loaded her, bound head to foot onto one of the rowboats.

As the boat traveled swiftly across the water, Jack ran after it. He knew there was nothing he could do, but he stood hip-deep in the crashing waves anyway, calling to Storm. Hearing his voice carried to her over the water, Storm revived a bit and leaned over the edge of the rowboat. She tried to stand and she urgently called something back to him, but her words were lost on the wind, and she was gagged before she once again succumbed to blackness.

Jack watched them go. What else could he do?

A/N: Wow, I'm breaking my own heart here. Now, I would spend some time reassuring you about Sam's condition…but that would ruin the next chapter, and I know you'd hate that. If you review, you'll find out faster. Ah, good old blackmail…Take care, everyone.