Disclaimer: -sigh- Squirrel is my creation, and wouldn't exist without good ole Disney and Bruckheimer productions.
A/N: Did I tell you the chapters would get longer? Did I? Okay, FFnet won't support certain characters, so here's a code. 0 means 'open' and 'closed' brackets, and -meaning- is the equal sign. It makes more sense outside of FFnet. There are also a lot more question marks than the ones that show up. Piffle.
Squirrel sits below deck, in her bunk, writing by the light of her tallow candle. Last time, Ana caught her writing, and almost saw what was on the paper. I can't let that happen. Especially not her. Squirrel pauses in her writing to cast her mind back. Another memory, and she writes it quickly before it is lost again.
She casts her eyes briefly over the paper. It looks like a shopping list, or one of Squirrel's past notes.
'Stars bright, sun red - fish: lots of. Swimming around? me… in the air -- A bad storm?-?-? -TICK-' Squirrel lets her eyes drift further, trying to ignore the cold shiver creeping up her spine.
'A nest? of snakes? - Gibbs says -meaning- enemies, 00killing -meaning- beating enemies? Dawn? and Uncle?… possible..00 Woman? -black: Ana?- juggles eggs? - cracks? into blood, muddy water? - me falling off Pearl -- Can't swim, dolphins0?Dawn?0 going far away…'
Squirrel swallows and adds the next note as another memory comes.
'reaching for an anchor -- reach it? -- salt water taste, closing over head, can't see… except see -meaning- drowning? Bird's eyes view - Me swimming w/o coat - v. pale skin? Then turn green in blue water?'
Squirrel stares at her notes and bites her lip. She adds one final note before placing all of her items into her sea-chest.
'Confusing 0Gibbs says -meaningmeaning-0 -meaning- soon event.. Coming closer? Fish -meaning- happened, then snakes -meaningmeaning- coming next?'
Squirrel looks at her sea-chest, trying to push her bad dream out of her mind. It's the same metal and leather one that held her mother's last gift to Squirrel. Squirrel looks at the treasures she has left. A few strings of pearls, a few dinner-plate-sized gold and silver pieces, and a few gemstones the size of fists. Squirrel sorts through them, lifting them up to reveal her papers hidden underneath. Squirrel slides her writing equipment onto the pile, then covers them again with the treasure.
"I w-wonder what Elizabeth w-would like." She wonders aloud, trying to think what she could give to the governor's daughter as a wedding gift. Trying to banish the thought of her dream.
Squirrel experimentally picks up a few strings of pearls, comparing them against each other. She sighs, then slides them back into the chest. Maybe I should ask Elizabeth personally, she thinks, closing the chest again. She puts out her candle and climbs out of the cabin.
"Lovely day for a stroll, wouldn't you say?" Jack saunters over. "Care to join me?"
Squirrel smiles. Not like there's anywhere else to go. Ana's at the helm, steering the Pearl through the suddenly strong breeze. With the wind behind them, the ship makes quick cutting progress through the water. Jack and Squirrel saunter across the deck.
"H-how l-long until we r-reach Port Royal?" Squirrel asks. Jack shrugs.
"About a day, I'd wager." He grins at Squirrel. "Is that a good bet, though?"
Squirrel smiles wider, colouring. "A very good bet." She frowns slightly. "Unless the wind changes again."
"Well then!" Jack slides an arm around her shoulders. "You'll just have to dance up another storm, won't you?" Squirrel giggles.
There's a sound over the water, like someone beating a drum several times. Jack drops to the deck, pulling Squirrel after him. The Pearl shudders as one of the cannonballs slams into her side. Another one whizzes by overhead, and the rest splash in the water nearby.
"ALL HANDS!" Jack shouts to the crew gathered. "WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!" He looks over at Squirrel, and helps her to her feet. "You right?"
Squirrel nods, slightly dazed. She looks out across the water. A ship comes sailing out of nowhere, pushed by the strong winds, followed by another, and another, and another. Jack whistles under his breath.
"Someone hates me." He turns to Squirrel. "Here's the thing: you get your little stone-shooter and hide in the crow's-nest… and stay there, no matter what. There's going to be a bit of a fight, and I don't want you to get hurt. Savvy?"
Squirrel barely even nods before Jack strides away and begins shouting orders left right and centre. She clambers up the rigging, swinging through the ropes that other sailors are hurrying to let loose or tie down.
The shanghai and bag of ammunition has never left her side since Squirrel's uncle stole the false treasure map from Squirrel. "You're no use to anyone here, Squirrel. You're completely useless, a waste of time." That's what Squirrel's own uncle had called her. Useless. And Squirrel was determined to prove him wrong.
Up in the crow's-nest, Squirrel can see the approaching four ships clearly. Each of them bears a different flag. Squirrel frowns. If these four ships are attacking at the same time, she wonders, priming her shanghai, why aren't they all flying under the same colour? The answer comes to Squirrel soon after. They all fly under pirate colours, but each design on the flag is different.
"Someone d-does hate you, Jack." Squirrel says softly. "Unless it's me again." I guess Dawn and my uncle figured out that the map was a fake. And they've brought friends with them this time. Squirrel raises her shanghai and aims as the ships draw closer. Well they're in for a big surprise.
The man standing on the deck of the first ship slumps to his knees, hit in the neck by a small stone.
The five pirate ships rock in the water as cannons thunder and cannonballs fly. The crew members not below priming the cannons are on deck, firing pistols and shouting taunts and insults. Squirrel looks over at Jack. With his hat on and his long coat flapping in the breeze, cutlass raised in the air, he looks the very image of a pirate king. Squirrel feels her heart soar, firing stone after stone. A song comes to her, and Squirrel hums under her breath as she shoots. But she can't help but wonder where the song came from.
"Parley!" A sailor screams as he tumbles into the water.
"Bit late for that, mate!" Jack laughs.
Squirrel fumbles in her ammo-bag for another stone, half-turned away from the fight on the starboard side. She looks up suddenly, eyes wide, and screams a warning.
"TO THE PORT SIDE! THE PORT SIDE!" Pirates swarm over the deck of the Pearl from the rowboats launched by the four ships. So the cannon-fire was just a diversion! Squirrel thinks frantically, firing a volley, knocking pirate after pirate unconscious. But it's still not enough.
The crewmen of the Pearl draw their cutlasses and fight hand to hand. Squirrel stares at the fight below, trying to find a target. The pirates move so quickly and smoothly, it's like watching a dance. A very deadly dance. Squirrel drags her attention away from the fight on the deck and concentrates instead on the pirates clambering on the Pearl like rats. But there are at least a hundred of them, and Squirrel can't possibly hit them all.
There's a creaking of the ropes behind her, and Squirrel half-turns, shanghai loaded and ready to fire.
"'Allo, poppet." The pirate grins with brown teeth, raising his pistol.
"G'bye, c-canker!" Squirrel fires first. The pirate takes the smooth stone right between the eyes. The pirate keeps grinning for a few seconds, then slowly falls backwards, landing on the deck below with a thud. His pistol spins across the crow's-nest, and Squirrel hesitantly picks it up.
It's heavy, and smooth. Squirrel drops the gun off the edge of her perch, shuddering. She hears a thud.
Ana looks up, a wry grin on her face. "Thank ye, Squirrel!" She calls. She steps over the unconscious form of her opponent and charges into another fight.
Jack runs yet another pirate through, slightly confused. Four ship's worth of pirates? All out for the Pearl? It doesn't make sense. And they're very well organised for pirates. Too well organised.
"What I do?" Jack calls over the clash of swords and thunder of pistols and cannons. "What's got you hating ole Jack so much?"
"And ye don't even know!" One pirate sneers, blocking Jack's sword. The pirate spits on Jack's shoes. "No wonder there's so many of us!"
Jack sighs, then shoots the pirate in the head. "Ask a civil question…"
"Aye," Gibbs says, fighting nearby with a determined expression on his face. "But you won't get an answer from a dead man!" Jack grins, gold teeth glinting.
Cannons boom again and again. Suddenly, one of the attacker's ships slides under the water, dragging a handful of screaming men with it. The mini-whirlpool the ship's sinking causes sends the other ships spiralling slowly away from the Pearl.
Squirrel hits a man in the back of his head, and he drops like a stone into the water. She reaches for another stone, and senses someone standing behind her. She hurries to load her shanghai.
"You've got some nice shooting," The pirate says in a friendly way. "However, you're not going to hurt me with that at this dist--…" He sees Squirrel's face under the hood of her cloak. "You're a woman!" He stares, surprised
"C-correct!" Squirrel raises her shanghai. The pirate kicks it out of her hands. Squirrel stares, first at her hands, then at the pirate. She frowns slightly.
"You m-mean you're not trying to k-kill me?"
"I am now!" He raises his sword, preparing to run Squirrel through.
She turns and leaps off the edge, leaving the pirate staring at empty space. Not after me? Squirrel grabs one of the ropes and swings over the battle on the deck. Jack looks up, and sees Squirrel airborne. He shouts up at her.
"I thought I told you…" He turns and blocks three attacks at once. Squirrel lets go of the rope and hits the deck rolling. She quickly rights herself, and looks around for a weapon to defend herself with.
A dead man's sword lies forgotten on the deck. Squirrel reaches for it, and tries to pick it up. She nearly topples at the weight of it.
"Having problems there?" The pirate who attacked Squirrel smiles. Squirrel looks up briefly, then tries again to lift the sword from the deck. The pirate laughs as Squirrel falls backwards. Squirrel lets out a stream of well-practised curses, and the man pauses for a moment to listen, an amused smile on his face.
"So angry!" He laughs. "There's nothing wrong with a pirate killing in the heat of battle, is there?" His sword sings through the air. Squirrel rolls out of the way, abandoning the sword.
Her cloak slides off her shoulders, and the sleeve of her blouse falls to the deck, slashed off at the shoulder. Squirrel clutches a hand over her burn wounds, trying not to whimper. The pirate grins.
"Old wounds, huh?" He raises his sword. "Don't worry. I'll make the pain go away."
Squirrel leaps backwards, the sword missing her face by inches. The pirate keeps coming, slashing the air, and Squirrel dancing away, the sword missing her sometimes only by a hair's breadth. Thankyou, Ana. The dance really helps.
"Go on!" The pirate laughs. "Call for help!"
Squirrel scowls, a dangerous light coming into her eyes. "I'm not useless!" She launches herself at the pirate, catching him off-guard. She knocks him to the ground and knees him in the groin. While he groans in pain, Squirrel rises quickly to her feet and scampers away.
These pirates aren't trying to kill me? Squirrel wonders as she dashes between blades. At least it's a mild improvement. So who then are they…? Squirrel climbs quickly up a rope and watches the fight. Her eyes widen as she sees where most of the attackers left on the Pearl are gathering. Jack?
"Come on!" Jack signs, sidling out of the way of yet another sword-thrust. "Jus' tell me what I gone and done wrong to offend all of you…" Dodge. "Gentlemen…" Swing, stab. "And then I can rest easy…" Swing, thrust, stab, sidle away. "Knowing I killed people for a good cause!"
"Go to hell, Sparrow!" A black pirate raises a club over his head. Jack stabs the man in the gut.
"No, I think you're going first." The club clatters to the deck.
Squirrel leaps down from her rope and rushes towards Jack, stones in hand. I may not have my shanghai, but these are better than nothing! Jack whirls, dodging yet another weapon, and sees Squirrel. His eyes widen.
"Didn't you hear me? I said…" Squirrel throws a stone, and a pirate clutches his eye, screaming in pain. Jack runs him through.
"I w-won't b-be useless!" She says, throwing another stone.
Jack turns and faces Squirrel, fight forgotten. "I want to be the one that saves you, Miss Grey!" Jack says, exasperated. "Not buries you!"
Squirrel frowns again. "I can fight, Jack! I don't want to be useless!"
"But you want to be dead?"
Before Squirrel can reply, there is the sound of a whistle from one of the ships. Suddenly, all of the attackers still alive leap over the side into their lifeboats, and row back to their ships. The Pearl's cannons fire a few more shots at the retreating ships, and the crew of the Pearl all cheer, claiming victory.
Except Squirrel and Jack.
"I told you to stay up where you was safe!"
"Someone came up there! He m-made me lose my sh-shanghai!"
"Why didn't you tell anyone that?"
"I'm not useless!"
"Unarmed in a fight, you're as good as dead!"
The crew of the Black Pearl watch the argument between Squirrel and Jack.
"Next time I give you an order…"
"So I d-disobeyed an order. S-so what?"
Jack opens his mouth to say something, then gives up and simply growls in frustration. He turns his back on her. "Get this mess cleaned up!" Jack orders the watching crew. "Get us back on course, Ana!"
There's a chorus of 'Aye', and the crew begin their cleanup of the deck.
Jack turns back to Squirrel. "I don't want anything to happen to you." He says quietly. "I know you can fight. I know you want to fight, luv." Jack takes hold of her hand. "But I don't want you to ever, ever, think you are useless if you can't. Fighting's not what makes a pirate, savvy? Don't think you're useless if you can't fight." He looks deep into her eyes. "I don't know who gave you that idea, Squirrel, but you sure as hell ain't useless."
Squirrel feels her face go red, and looks away. Jack lets go of her hand and goes to survey the damage to his ship. Squirrel squeezes her eyes tight so the tears won't spill out of them.
A/N: -grinnage- I feel so much better now.