"It's about time you arrived," growled Will as he stepped on to the Black Pearl with Jack. "One more minute with those drunks and whores and I would've gone mad."

"Ain't much better in here, mate," smirked Jack as he gestured to the rum keg where someone was already helping himself.

"So, what's this adventure we're on this time?" he asked, ignoring the man.

"We're after the Laguna idle." Will's eyes widened, and Jack immediatly assumed he was familiar with it.

"The one they keep in Esther?" he asked. "The one they say no man can get their hands on?"

"No, the other one," said Jack. "Comodore Norrington's after it and desperately hired us."

"And you're going to do it?"

"Yes and no. Yes being we're going to get it, and no being we're not giving it to them, savvy?"

"And he entrusted you?" asked Will with a smirk. "He must've been desperate. It might be a trick."

"I already know it has to be," said Jack. "But it's not like we have anything better to do now mate."

"Captain Sparrow!" called Gibbs from to other end of the ship.

"Aye?" Jack called, turning around.

"We got another ship gainin' on us!" Jack and Will both ran across the deck to get a look. Through the mist, the silhouette of another ship, slightly smaller than their own was approaching.

"Make ready the guns!" ordered Jack. "Move!" He ran up to the helm and began to set sail, determined to outrun them, and knew that the canons would be ready if they needed them.

"Who are they?" called Will.

"That be one of Esther's ships!" shouted Gibbs. "Bloody Norrington must've told them we be comin'."

"Knew it was a bloody trap," growled Jack as he turned the ship so the canons were facing it.

"Should we blow 'em out o' the water, Cap'in?" called Gibbs.

"No," said Jack. "Not yet. We'll board their ship first, fight and claim at least two prisoners."

"But-"

"Just do it!"

"I thought we never take prisoners," said Anamaria from behind.

"If they're from Esther, they'll know how to get to the idol, savvy?" said Jack.

"Here they come," muttered Will as the ship drew closer. The rest of the crew made ready to ambush the ship.

Emily Wilson was in her room when she heard the captain shout that they were under attack. Fear struck her when she looked out the window and saw it was the Black Pearl.

"We're going to die!" shouted a woman from behind her. "That ship is indestructable!" Emily reamained silent and let her friend do the panicking. "What do they want from us?" she muttered to herself. "What have we done to them? What do they want?"

"Me," she said softly, looking at her friend. "Just like the last ship." She looked at the door, waiting. "And the ship before that..." she muttered. The captain of their ship burst in and pointed to her.

"You, with me. Now!" She stood up, not even fighting, and he grabbed her wrist, none too gently and pulled her bellow deck and into the brigg. "We've come this far already. They're not going to find you now!" He threw her in the empty cell and locked it. "Not one sound from you! No one knows about you save for you and me, and we're not changing that."

"What if the ship should sink? Then can I scream?" she asked, glancing up at him with a dark face.

"No," he answered coldly. "I'd rather ye remain dead at the bottom of the ocean than in the hands of the other pirates. They can't learn yer secret." He left, but she didn't seem phazed by his threat. In fact, she wasn't surprised he had said that. Pirates were greedy and sick. It was more decent than the other things she'd heard.

She had to wait for an hour before the fighting above deck started to die down. Then the cannon fire started, and that was when she started to panic. The Black Pearl was notorius for never leaving it's enemy ships, still floating at sea. A cannon blasted through the wall a few feet from her, and she shreiked as the loud sound hurt her ears. Water immediatly began to flood in, and she began to scream for her life.

It did not take long, and soon someone was proceeding down the steps, looking around curiosly. "Here!" she cried. "Please, let me out!"

The pirate looked over from the shadows and came to the cell, looking in curiously. She didn't recognize him, and knew he came from the Pearl. Moving back, she watched as he drew out a pistol, and waited to die. But to her surprise, he shot the lock on the cell, and pulled the door open. She didn't fight when he grabbed her wrists and pulled her out, taking her above deck and then on to their ship. "Here we go again," she thought to herself and was soon taken below the deck of the Black Pearl and locked away until the captain could deal with her.

"Jack," said Mr. Gibbs. "We did manage to pull one survivor. We locked her in the brigg for yeh." Jack nodded and turned to Will.

"Take my place for a bit. I'm going to see who we've got." Will looked at him unsure.

"What are you going to do?"

"Ask her some questions, and if she doesn't asnwer willingly, I'll make her answer." Will's eyes widened, and he was about to object when Gibbs stopped him.

"She's an enemy an' we have to find out why they were following us. I wouldn't worry, lad. The women usually talk the minute they hear how they'll be tortured if they don't." Will reminded himself that he was traveling with pirates, and decided to take Gibbs' word for it, for now at least.

Jack walked down to the brigg and unlocked Emily's cell. She was a thin, waisted away woman with black hair, torn and ratty that hung limp down to her waist, and dark skin and eyes. He could tell she had been a prisoner before, and saw the pirate branding on her right arm, right above the wrist. Her dress was thin and tearing, and she smelled badly of smoke mixed with rum and blood. She had very dry, blistered and tearing lips, and he wondered how long it had been since she had last been allowed to drink. He signalled her to stand up and had her walk in front of him, her hands bound behind her back, and he led her to his quarters, sitting her down in an old wooden chair. He took a seat in front of her and watched her for a minute. Her eyes were focused on the floor as if she refused to look him in the eyes.

"What's your name?" he asked, not looking friendly at all.

"Emily Wilson," she answered softly, still not looking at him.

"Miss Wilson, I am the captain of this ship and I am only going to tell you once that if you just answer every question I ask you, I won't have to make you suffer, savvy?"

"Do you think I'm afraid?" she asked, but not in a haughty tone. Her eyes strayed to his, almost as if she were saying to him, "Go ahead an torture me like the others. I already know I can't stop you." She squinted a little and then said slowly, "Jack?" His expression changed to surprised. "Jack, is that you?"

"Captain... Jack Sparrow," he answered, unable to regain his stone cold face.

"I knew it," she said slowly and weakly, giving him a sad smile. "I knew I'd see you again." He stared at her.

"Who are you?" he asked, looking almost afraid.

"Don't you remember me, Jack?" she asked, her voice cracking every so often. She was sick and he could see it painfully. "I was the little brat who live down the road from you? You hated me." His eyes suddenly widened and he looked at her.

"Em," he muttered. "I never hated you. I just didn't understand you, luv. I didn't understand why you were always hitting me, pushing me in the sand, throwing stones at me."

"You still don't?" He cleared his throat and shook his head.

"No. I understand now that it was your funny way of showing affection." He shook his head and looked at her with a cold face again. "But that doesn't matter anymore. You're my prisoner now, savvy? And you have information I need."

"Then you must already know I won't tell you anything about the idle. Pirates have hunted me down because I'm the only one of the group who hid it that's still alive. Thanks to Commodore Norrington, I've already been on six different ships." Jack hadn't known that, but it helped to know he'd come to the right person... sort of. "The last captain was a little more clever, disguising himself as an Esther ship when he kidnapped me. Was a nasty shock for me when I was brought before the captain and saw it was not so."

"Well, maybe the suffering would stop if you'd tell us where to find the idle, savvy?"

"No," she said, shaking her head. "The other ships know by now that I'll be dead long before they ever find the idle. It's protecting the islands and I won't help a pirate stop that, not even one I've had feelings for before. So go ahead and hurt me." She pulled down the neck of her shirt a few inches, revealing scarred and mangled skin underneath. "This is from when they poured hot coals down my chest." She held out her hands and he saw two dark cirlces in the palms, still healing. "This is from when they put a large nail through both my hands while they were on top of each other on a table." She pulled up her skirt, showing a mangled looking leg, all raw and soar looking. "And this is from last night when they threw a pot of boiling water on me. It goes up my side and a few spots on my back." Her bare feet had been damaged from the water as well, and she looked at him in a way that made him uneasy. "I also have marks from my waist and a little bellow it from when the captain of a ship was drunk and 'lonely'. Would you like to see that too?"

"No," he said, shaking his head and trying to get over what he was seeing. He had practiced torturing prisoners before, male and female, rarely female, but he'd never had to torture someone he knew or meant a little to him. Rape was never an option of torture to him either, but he knew very well that other pirates did it, as the one had done to her. He didn't want to thinkg about it, but her scars on her chest, leg, feet, and hands were right there in front of him and there was no way he could make them go away.

"I've already been de-humanized, Captain Sparrow. Nothing you can do to me now will be any different from what they've already done," she said, tears forming in her eyes but her voice remaining steady.

"I'm giving you the night to think about it," he said, unable to look at her now. "When dawn comes you'll either talk, or I will torture you." He pulled her to her feet and looked her in the eyes. "Savvy?" She looked at him coldly.

"Savvy," she answered, and he took her back down to the brigg and locked her in for the night.

When he walked back on deck, he brushed past Will and stood at the helm, not talking and unable to rid his face of the cold look on it.

"Jack?" came Gibbs' voice. "What happened? Did she talk?"

"I'm giving her the night to think about it," he said darkly. "If she doesn't talk in the morning..." He couldn't finish, and stared at the horizon.

"You ain't goin' soft on her, now, are yeh, cap'in?" asked Gibbs in a teasing tone. Jack didn't find it funny and merely looked at him. The look on his face made him stop and he left him alone. Will came up and looked at him.

"What's wrong?" he asked. Jack looked at him and took a deep breath.

"I know her," he said softly. "I grew up with her." Will's eyes widened.

"What? And you still tortured her?"

"I haven't tortured her yet, mate," he said, closing his eyes and shaking his head. Will knew it was bad when something was strong enough to bother Jack this much. "But I will tomorrow. Something tells me she's not going to talk."

"How can you?" cried Will. "If you know her, can't you find an excuse to let her go? Are you really going to go through with this?"

"I don't know, alright?" he snapped. "I just need time to think, savvy? Just go, mate. Let me have time to think." Will nodded and left, shaking his head mournfully.

I'll sing it one last time for you

And then we really have to go

You've been the only thing that's right

In all I've done...

(The bits of lyrics at the end of the next few chapters are from the song 'Run' by Snow Patrol.)